A gift for the King! Charles receives new show horse from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

King Charles has been gifted a new horse by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, months after he inherited his late mother Queen Elizabeth’s racehorses.

Noble, a seven-year-old black mare, is settling into life at the Royal Mews in Windsor, the Palace said in a statement.

The horse, who stands at 16.2 hands high, toured with the ‘Mounties’ Musical Ride in 2022, where she participated in 90 public performances at 50 different locations in Canada.

Bred and trained in the country, she received her name through the Mounties’ annual Name The Foal contest.

And a sweet photo showed the King making a fuss of the prized mare, who has a black coat.

Charles was said to be ‘pleased’ to meet Noble at the Royal Mews earlier this week.

The move follows a long tradition of the Mounties gifting horses to the royal family.

The relationship between the royals and the force dates back to 1904 when King Edward VII bestowed the title of Royal on the North-West Mounted Police, making it the Royal North-West Mounted Police.

The Mounties gifted eight horses to Charles’ mother the Queen throughout her reign, starting with Burmese in 1969. The Queen rode Burmese at Trooping the Colour for 18 years.

The King looks up proudly at Noble as she settles into life at the Royal Mews on the Windsor Estate

Last year, the King inherited his late mother Queen Elizabeth’s racehorses following her death in September. However the following month he sold off 14 of the steeds amid rumours he wanted to cut down on her racing operations.

A source said at the time: ‘The connection between the family and the horse racing industry will continue.

‘The desire is to continue with the traditions and connections with Royal Ascot but not on the same scale as Her Majesty because she had a passion.’

However, Noble is a show horse rather than a racehorse. 

The King’s new gift comes amid a week of big changes for the royal family in a reshuffle of royal titles.

On Friday, as his youngest brother Prince Edward celebrated his 59th birthday, Charles granted him the title of the Duke of Edinburgh, making his wife Sophie, 57, Duchess of Edinburgh.

The King fulfilled a long-held wish of the brothers’ late father Prince Philip, who had said before his death in April 2021 that he wanted Edward to inherit the title.

But it was not the only change made this week, as the Duke and Duchess’s children also had their titles officially updated on the Buckingham Palace website.

Following reports that their 21-month-old daughter had been christened in Santa Barbara, California last week, the Sussexes released a statement confirming the news in which they referred to the toddler as ‘Princess Lilibet Diana’.

The couple added the title was her ‘birth right’.

After the statement was released, the Palace responded to say it would update the titles of the Sussex children, as well as the line of succession, on its website.

The children now read as Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex. They are sixth and seventh in line to the throne, behind their father Prince Harry.