A hotel landlord has won a £20,000 bet that
the Queen Mother would present a race
winner's trophy at Sandown Park racecourse.
David Whitbread, owner of the Keyberry Hotel
in Newton Abbot, Devon, placed a £200 bet in
1992 at odds of 250-1 that the Queen Mother
would still be presenting the Whitbread Gold
Cup when she was 100.
Although the Queen
Mother will not be 100
until 4 August, the bet
was changed to cover
her 100th year and the
bookmaker, a friend of
Mr Whitbread's, agreed
to honour it up to
£20,000.
On Saturday the Queen
Mother completed her
traditional duty,
presenting the Cup to
jockey Carl Llewellyn,
who rode 6-1 joint favourite Beau to victory.
She looked in good health, wearing a powder
blue coat, hat and veil as she also gave
trophies to the horse's owner and trainer.
The race course is one of her favourite
venues.
She returned to public
appearances at the
Surrey course in 1998
after undergoing a
hip-replacement
operation and was
rewarded by seeing
one of her horses win.
An employee at the
Keyberry Hotel said Mr
Whitbread had
travelled to Sandown in
expectation of his win
but "wanted to keep a low profile".
"The boss didn't tell us anything about the bet
he had on - the first we knew was when
people started calling us about it," he said.
~*~
Queen to hand more power to Charles?(ITN)
The Queen has just celebrated her
74th birthday. And as usual, her
principle way of doing that was
with a church service, a couple of
days later at St George's Chapel,
Windsor.
Other family members included the
Queen Mother, now three and half
months from her 100th birthday,
who looked very relaxed, walking steadily with the aid of one stick.
But what of the Queen herself - is she growing tired of the whole Royal round?
I only put it that way because a new book's been published in the UK which
claims Her Majesty is getting very tired of the business of opening things,
meeting endless crowds of people, and travelling.
Perhaps she IS about to hand over the reins to Prince Charles, allowing him, in
his early 50s, to reign in her stead.
Well, as I have said many times before, I think this will NOT happen under
almost any conceivable circumstances. There is no mechanism for British
sovereigns to retire. And for a formal Regency to be established - as
happened under George III in the early years of the 19th century - the
monarch has to be incapable.
There is absolutely no sign of that. I see no sign either of the Queen
relinquishing many of her duties. She has cut down her travels abroad, though
the recent two-week tour of Australia showed she can still contemplate
arduous "assignments".
I think some of the behind-the-scenes routine may begin to pass to the Prince
of Wales. I think NEXT year will be the time to watch out for. The Queen's
75th birthday would be a good time to announce any changes which might
involve her eldest son taking on more, formal responsibilities.