The Queen's love of animals extends to creatures great and small and it is well established that she is a huge fan of corgis, ponies, horses - and even elephants!
- Unearthed photographs of the Queen show her love of animals.
- The adorable photos show the Queen making friends with a seven-year-old Asian Elephant.
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August 12 is World Elephant Day, a day that is entirely dedicated to the preservation and protection of the world's elephants. For the Queen, this is a charitable cause that she has supported in the past and has even attended royal engagements that are dedicated to the preservation of certain species of elephants.
In April 2017, the Queen and Prince Philip met an Asian elephant in Dunstable. The seven-year-old elephant named Donna seemed to be a fan of the Queen and her husband and allowed the royal couple to feed her bananas.
The royal couple was visiting the ZSL Whipsnade Zoo to open the Center for Elephant care which became the home to nine Asian elephants and maintained the wellbeing and preservation of these animals.
These adorable photographs of Her Majesty demonstrate the Queen's natural knack with animals. While some might be frightened by such a large animal, the Queen seemed delighted and fed Donna the elephant a banana and let her wrap her trunk around the Queen's outstretched hand.
Previously, the Queen has even been spotted riding on the back of an elephant while on a royal tour. In 1961, the Queen was photographed sitting ontop of a very highly decorated Indian elephant in Benares.
This photograph was snapped in January 1961 during her royal tour of India, just nine years after the Queen's coronation in 1952.
The Queen's love of animals also famously extends to her pet dogs. The Queen's corgis have become part of the Queen's identity and fans love the adorable names that Her Majesty has given her adorable furry sidekicks.
The Queen is also an avid horse rider and fan of horses and ponies. Despite being 96, earlier in the year in June 2022, the Queen was seen ‘riding her horse again’ at Windsor, an action that many saw as a ‘remarkable’ health update for the aging monarch.
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