Royal Family: The Queen's very surprising hobby which you might associate with men in flat caps

Published date14 August 2022
But The Royal Pigeon Racing Association insists that the Royal Family have been avid pigeon racers since 1886. Despite it being a niche interest sometimes associated with the working classes, the sport has long been a part of royal life, as pigeons were presented to the Royal Family, and quickly took up residence in the Sandringham Estate

It has been remarked that King George and King Edward both fell in love with the sport very quickly, and The Queen to this day owns her own racing pigeons, which are kept on her behalf by experts in the world of pigeon racing. During WW2, the pigeons of the estate were enlisted as carrier pigeons and ended up returning to the estate once the fighting had stopped. Queen Elizabeth remains the patron of several pigeon racing charities to this day.

READ MORE: Royal Family: The secret reason the Queen and Kate Middleton often wear such bright colours when out and about

Among her other lesser known hobbies, The Queen also loves stamp collecting. The Queen is the fifth royal to add to the world famous Royal Philatelic Collection, following on from its inauguration by Queen Victoria's son, Prince Alfred in 1864. The prince sold his collection to his brother, the future King Edward VII, who in turn gave it to his son, King George V and it subsequently passed down to King George VI and finally to Queen...

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