A vet’s verdict on the foal of her horse Dove left Elizabeth II furious, and in July 1960 she told her Crown Equerry “I’m allergic to vets and I can’t help it”; the letter is at Bonhams until 3 December 2026.
Letters from Elizabeth II to her Crown Equerry, among them the furious note about a vet's verdict on Dove's foal, are at Bonhams until 3 December 2026.
A letter in which Elizabeth II described herself as “allergic to vets”, written after a verdict on the foal of her horse Dove, is on the market at Bonhams as part of lot 134 in the auction house’s Fine Books, Manuscripts, Science and Sport sale, estimated at £8,000 to £12,000.
Lot 134 is an extensive archive of autograph letters, personal memoranda and notes from the Queen to her Equerry, Brigadier Walter Morley Sale (1903-1976). The sale, auction 32106, is held online and at Bonhams Knightsbridge in London, running from 23 November and ending from 12:00 GMT on 3 December 2026. Viewing at Knightsbridge is scheduled from 30 November to 3 December.
Matthew Haley, Bonhams manuscripts specialist, told The Independent that the papers “have remained in the family until now so they are probably unseen”, and put the total at “80 to 100 pages of her writing”. Bonhams’ catalogue footnote says the collection “offers an unusual insight into the daily workings of the monarchy and the personality of the Queen herself.”
Dove’s foal, and a diagnosis the Queen disputed
The Dove passage belongs to a run of seven autograph letters signed “Elizabeth R”, 24 pages in all, written from Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle between 19 December 1959 and 2 August 1960. Bonhams prints the lines as: “I’m furious!… there is absolutely nothing the matter with her foal… I’m allergic to vets and I can’t help it”.
The Independent dates that letter to July 1960 and reports that the Queen had argued with a vet over his diagnosis of Dove. Bonhams dates the seven letters only as a group and prints no date beside the sentence itself. The words were written to Sale rather than spoken to him.
Other passages in the same group of letters turn on the ordinary business of stable and household. One concerns the horse Surprise and overfeeding. Another mentions “the nice fat cheque” for the Rover car. A third settles a question of family health: “neither Margaret nor I have had chicken pox, and we’re jolly well not going to risk going in the same car as my children!”
The aftermath of a carriage accident prompts the question “Can we sue the woman for damage or dangerous driving?” On the State Visit in July 1960, the Queen wrote that “the horses behaved extremely well… everything and everybody got terribly wet, including the inside of the carriages…”. Another passage records a gift that had become a puzzle: “My mother has been given two Arabs from Jordan and doesn’t know what to do with them…”
The man who ran the Royal Mews
Sale was Crown Equerry from 1955 to 1960, the officer responsible for the Royal Mews and so for the state horses, the carriages and the motor cars. The range of the correspondence follows from that remit, moving between a foal’s health, a cheque for a Rover and the condition of the carriages after a soaking.
Born in Yokohama, Sale joined the Royal Horse Guards and reached the rank of Brigadier. He was appointed OBE and CVO, and in April 1961, after his years running the Mews had ended, he was appointed an Extra Equerry to Elizabeth II.
Most of the paperwork addressed to him takes the form of memoranda rather than letters: 37 autograph memoranda signed “ER”, 63 pages, written on printed memorandum forms headed ‘The Queen/ Buckingham Palace’ and dated between 3 August 1954 and 16 January 1961.
One concerns the horse Sea Breeze, of which the Queen wrote: “he might even be Olympic one day… he and I are not in the same equine category”. Another deals with the children’s mounts: “Please make sure that the ponies are well-exercised… even Anne apparently finds them hard to hold, and Charles will be put off for a certainty.”
The two formats are distinguished in the catalogue by their signatures: the letters are signed “Elizabeth R”, the memoranda “ER” on the printed Buckingham Palace forms. Taken together, the dated material runs from 3 August 1954 to 16 January 1961, beginning before Sale’s appointment as Crown Equerry in 1955 and continuing past the end of that post in 1960.
Sixty-five years in one family
Alongside the Queen’s own papers, the lot includes further notes, a letter from Elizabeth the Queen Mother dated 10 June 1958, notes from the Duke of Edinburgh, 12 Christmas cards and commissions.
The provenance given by Bonhams is by descent: the archive passed to Sale’s son, Captain Charles Richard Walter Sale, and thence by descent through the family. The Independent reports that the papers, spanning 1954 to 1961, have been with the Sale family for 65 years, and quotes Haley saying the family “now feel it is appropriate to let people see their contents.”
That report describes the collection as “nearly 50 letters and notes”. Bonhams’ own count is itemised: seven autograph letters, 37 autograph memoranda, further notes and 12 Christmas cards, together with the Queen Mother’s letter and the notes from the Duke of Edinburgh.
The material is offered as a single lot. Bidding opens at 12:00 GMT on 23 November and closes from 12:00 GMT on 3 December 2026, with the Knightsbridge viewing opening on 30 November.