Queen Elizabeth's confidante 'opposed' to key funeral detail that's since become iconic
The touching tribute involved the Queen's pony, which the monarch rode just two months before her death.
A close friend of the late Queen Elizabeth II was against a key aspect of the monarch's funeral, it has been alleged.
Angela Kelly, one of the late Queen's closest confidants who worked for the monarch for 25 years, did not want Elizabeth II's headscarf to be worn by her favourite pony during the funeral procession.
In fact, she even initially refused to hand over the headscarf when requested to, it has been claimed.
Terry Pendry, who worked as the monarch’s stud groom for more than 30 years, was a vocal advocate for the small detail as he wanted to pay tribute to the Queen and her love of ponies.
Mr Pendry was invited to the funeral along with his wife Sue. He came up with a secret plan to stand with the late Queen's favourite pony, Carltonlima Emma, and place the headscarf on her.
But he first spoke with Ms Kelly to make sure she would be ok with the plan.
Asked whose idea it was to take Emma to the funeral procession, Mr Pendry said: “My own. I was actually invited to go to Her Majesty’s funeral at Westminster. And I said ‘And Sue?’
“[They replied] ‘No, no, no, just you’. I said ‘Sue and I, we’re a team. I’ll be here for when she [the Queen] comes home for the committal’, always knowing what I was going to do.
“As regards Emma and myself, I didn’t dare tell anybody because maybe they’d have tried to stop me doing it. I wasn’t going to have any of that.”
He went on to claim: “So I took it upon myself, I went to Angela Kelly and I said, ‘I need one of the Queen’s scarves’. She didn’t want me to have it.
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“She said: ‘Well no, you can’t, you mustn’t’. I said ‘I’m going to and I will. You have to give me one of her headscarves, I need to pay my last respects with Emma’. Anyway, she caved in and she gave me the Hermes scarf that was one of her [the Queen’s] favourites.”
Mr Pendry added: “I had to work out how, once Her Majesty’s coffin had passed me, how I was going to hand Emma over, and get round the moat garden into the castle to the chapel, before she [the Queen] did. It was our last race if you like. Anyway, I managed to get there in good time.”
The pony, known as just 'Emma' by those who looked after her, was dressed in a black riding blanket with the Queen’s cypher displayed on it.
The headscarf was placed across the saddle.
The Queen used to ride her horse Sanction regularly until she reached her 70s.
Mr Pendry then suggested the monarch switch to Emma, who the late Queen reportedly rode up until just two months before her death.
