The stands were full and a huge cheer went up from the crowd as the starting stalls opened and the field of sixteen runners started to race the one-and-a-half miles to the finishing post. It was an international field, with runners from Ireland and France taking on the best three-year-old horses in England. The Aga Khan’s home-bred Harzand won, ridden by Irish champion jockey Pat Smullen and trained in Ireland by Dermot Weld. The Aga Khan is well known to the Queen, being a Knight of the British Empire and a successful breeder of thoroughbreds. For the current spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims, it was his fifth Derby winner, extending a tradition started by his grandfather who also had five Derby winners starting in 1930.

After the race, the Queen descended from the royal box to present the trophies in front of the grandstand, where a dais had been erected for the presentation. Each in his turn received his trophy after a few words of congratulations from the Queen. That she took great pleasure in the presentation was plain for all to see.

Meanwhile, 94-year-old Prince Philip was standing erect as always and off to one side of the Queen and the winning group. He shook hands with each one as they mounted the dais, but took no part in the presentation ceremony. The Derby is not a state occasion like the opening of Parliament, so why did he make the trek down from the royal box to the presentation dais, only a week after his doctors ordered him to cancel an engagement because of fears about his health? It was not an obligation, but his sense of duty and a clear indication of his love and respect for his wife made him do it, especially as he has little interest in the sport.

Prince Philip’s lack of interest in horse racing stems not from a dislike of ‘The Sport of Kings’ but rather that, unless one is the jockey or trainer, it is a passive sport. During Royal Ascot, Philip will dutifully be at his wife’s side, but he insists on being able to watch the cricket on TV during the racing and has a small office in the back of the royal box where he catches up on his correspondence with the help of a secretary. He doesn’t like to be a spectator; he wants to be an active participant. He is highly competitive and the will to win is paramount for him. He has been deeply involved in other equestrian sports including polo, carriage driving and showjumping. He is the longest-serving president of the International Equestrian Federation, from 1964 to 1986, and as such he has had more influence than anyone on the way international equestrian sport has developed. During his time there, he instigated jumping’s Nations Cup series. In 2007, he was inducted into the British Horse Society’s Equestrian Hall of Fame, following in the footsteps of his daughter, the Princess Royal.