During her 70 years of reign, Elizabeth II’s relationship with sport was strong: she rewarded the English national team with the title of world champion in London in 1966, but her true sporting passion was always her beloved horses. She was the first to breed thoroughbreds, which she always jealously guarded and cared for. Queen Elizabeth was also a very skilled and well-educated horse rider. The Queen’s passion for horses was so well known that one of the main sporting events in the United Kingdom was Royal Ascot: a race day in her honor that she never missed and for which she imposed a strict dress code that included the use of a hat.
Among the sports that Queen Elizabeth loves, she cannot miss the one that was invented in England: football, or rather… football. She herself made it clear in 2007 that she was a fan of a particular team, Arsenal. The Gunners were in fact the only team to be welcomed into Buckingham Palace. It was Queen Elizabeth herself who rewarded England with the title of world champion at Wembley in 1966. A moment that marked the history of not only British football, but all sports across the Channel. It was in fact the first and so far only time that England won the World Cup. Her first match she attended as Queen was the 1953 FA Cup Final between Blackpool and Bolton. Even earlier, in 1945, she had already watched a Chelsea match live, but she was still a princess. Her presence was also inevitable at the 1996 European Championships, which were held in England. The Queen was at the stadium to watch the final between Germany, the eventual winners of the event, and the Czech Republic. Before the match began, the Queen shook hands with all the players present.
Not at Wembley for England’s recent European Championship match against Italy, but before the final, the Queen sent a message to manager Southgate: “55 years ago I was fortunate enough to hand over the Rimet Trophy to Bobby Moore… I want to send my congratulations, and those of my family, to the team on reaching the final, and send my best wishes for tomorrow, in the hope that history will remember not only the successes, but also the spirit, the commitment and the pride you have shown so far.”
Not just football, in England rugby is also among the most played sports and has inevitably had a connection with Queen Elizabeth. The monarch was in fact the patron of the Rugby Football Union (Welsh Rugby Union), the two main rugby bodies in England and Wales. It was Queen Elizabeth herself who rewarded John Ellis, the captain of Australia, at the end of the 1999 Rugby World Cup final, which they won against France. The event was held in Wales, so the monarch’s presence in Cardiff was inevitable.
In addition to rugby, Elizabeth II has always had a connection to tennis. Although it was not one of her favorite sports, she was a patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, the club that organizes the Wimbledon Championships. In fact, during the first twenty-five years of her reign, until 1977, the Queen visited Wimbledon only three times. The next event dates back to 2010. The royal family has most recently been represented by Kate Middleton, to whom the Queen left the patronage of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in 2017.
Elizabeth II was born when the first FIFA World Cup had not yet been held. The monarch has lived through 23 World Cups and 24 Summer Olympic Games. Among the many records that Queen Elizabeth holds is that she is the first, and so far only, head of state to have opened two Olympic Games in two different countries: Canada (Montreal 1976) and the United Kingdom (London 2012).
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