Who will be the next prince or princess of Windsor ?

Created in 1943, the purpose of Royal Windsor Horse Show was first to help raise fund for the war effort. Since, the competition has become a tradition. It is now the only event in Great Britain that hosts international competitions in Showjumping, Dressage, Driving and Endurance.

Certainly attracted by the great price money, including 500 000 € for the Rolex Grand Prix on Sunday, sixteen athletes among the twenty best show jumping riders of the world will be competing. Among them, world number one Steve Guerdat will be there to defend Switzerland colors alongside with his compatriot, world number five Martin Fuchs. They will have to face European Champion and world number two Peder Fredricson. He will not be the only Swedish riders as Henrik von Eckermann will join the party too. Among the great champions who travelled to Windsor, we can also quote Germany’s Christian Alhlmann and Daniel Deusser, America’s Kent Farrington and Laura Kraut, Austria’s Max Kühner, Belgium’s Niels Bruynseels, Pieter Devos, Nicola Philippaerts, Jos Verlooy and Grégory Wathelet, Canada’s Eric Lamaze and Tiffany Foster, Italy’s Lorenzo de Luca and Alberto Zorzi, Ireland’s Bertram Allen and of course numerous Britain riders like Scott Brash, Ben Maher, Laura Renwick, John, Michael, Robert Whitaker and Guy Williams. With this number of champions, the show promises to be amazing but spectators will have to wait until the Rolex Grand Prix on Sunday to know the name of the new Windsor prince or princess.

In the other disciplines, twenty-eight athletes will compete in the CAIO4*. Among them Austria’s Boyd Exell is the great favorite but victory will not be easy as strong opponents will be in Windsor like Nederland Koos de Ronde, Ijsbrand and Bram Chardon, Amercia’s Chester Weber or Belgium’s Glenn Geerts and Edouard Simonet. In the CDI4*, Britain riders are great favorite as athletes like Richard Davison, Charlotte Dujardin or Carl Hester will try to shine in front of their home crowd.

For the anecdote, the first show was simply called the Windsor Horse and Dog Show. But dogs have not been allowed into the showground since 1944. This is because at the first show in 1943, a lurcher stole a piece of chicken from King George V’s lunch plate. The Committee found this so mortifying that they banned dogs from the showground ever since!

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