Produced and directed by Andrea Nevins, the documentary tells how the love of horses brought together the 30-year friendship between Monty Roberts and the Queen of England.
At 92, Elizabeth II still rides horses and was photographed surrounded by them on her 96th birthday. The late queen’s passion for riding is no secret, but we know less about the unexpected friendship that was born from it. American director Andrea Nevins tells this story in her documentary The Cowboy and the Queen. It all started in 1989, when the Queen heard about the grooming techniques of one Monty Roberts, a California cowboy better known as “the man who whispered in horses’ ears”. Although he is not the man who inspired Robert Redford’s 1998 film, he is known for training horses in an unusual way; gently. And this technique really pleases the queen who asks to meet her. “You have no idea how long I thought it was important for horses to live with us humans without violence,” she tells the magazine. People in an interview published on September 4. And this goes back to my early teenage years. The world thought that horses should be broken, but the queen was not of that opinion.’ Elizabeth II then invited him to Windsor Castle to demonstrate his technique. An invitation that he immediately accepts. “You always say yes to the Queen,” he explains again. In 30 minutes he gets one of the queen’s horses to ride. The queen won.
Monty Corgi
From this meeting was born a 30-year friendship that lasted until the Queen’s death on September 8, 2022. Robert Monti will also be one of the guests of the sovereign’s funeral to be held on September 19. “Our relationship was as close as possible,” he admits in his interview. She had her husband and everything else, so it wasn’t that kind of relationship. I loved him to death and I think he loved me too.” He loved him so much that he even named one of his favorite corgis Monty after his friend. “Monty parachuted in with her,” says the cowboy, recalling the Queen’s appearance at the opening of the London Olympics in 2012 alongside Daniel Craig as James Bond.
The Cowboy and the Queen It will appear in American theaters on September 6.
Source: Le Figaro
