Queen Elizabeth II is celebrating her Platinum Jubilee this year and several countries around the world including France are bestowing her with gifts and honors. President Emmanuel Macron of France will present her with a “well behaved” horse called Fabulous as an acknowledgment of the close ties between France and England. Other honors including planting of trees as well as lighting up buildings on the coast.
It was reported that President Macron personally chose the horse called Fabuleux de Maucourt, which was a part of Mr. Macron’s escort during VE commemoration, on the Champs-Elysées, in early May, as a gift to the monarch on her Platinum Jubilee. The seven-year old grey, “well-behaved” horse was chosen as it is believed that the Queen is partial to grey horses. General Eric Bio Farina told Paris Match magazine that it was “the flagship horse of the regiment’s cavalry.”
The Queen has a lifelong fondness for horses. The official photograph commemorating her 96th birthday on April 21, 2022 showed her standing between two fell ponies. Weeks later there was a special Royal Windsor Horse Show, as a part of the 70-year reign celebrations. It was called a Gallop through History and featured more than 500 horses.
The French embassy celebrated Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee on February 6, 2022, by planting a Malus “Royal Beauty” apple tree from Normandy, a region which has close and historic ties with the U.K. and “apples are a speciality,” according to the embassy. In autumn, a French oak tree will be planted in Kensington Gardens.
On Thursday, President Macron will participate in a ceremony that will take place beneath the Arc de Triomphe. The flame of the Unknown Soldier, will be rekindled on this occasion. Later in the evening, buildings of Hauts-de-France that face the U.K. coasts will be lit up in the Queen’s honor, while bonfires and beacons will be lit in the U.K.
The embassy noted that the “illuminations will highlight our physical closeness and our desire to be part of this key national moment,” according to a report in The Telegraph.
