Sir Michael Morpurgo remembers the Queen as ‘heart and soul of who we are’

Best-selling children’s author Sir Michael Morpurgo has paid tribute to the Queen saying she was “very much the heart and soul of who we are”.

Sir Michael, whose works include the 1982 children’s book War Horse, was named in the 2017 New Year Honours list and knighted for his services to literature and charity.

In May this year, his fairy storybook titled There Once is a Queen was released to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The poetic tribute, with illustrations by Michael Foreman, tells the story of the Queen’s life during her 70-year reign as monarch.

Following her death, the author, 78, remembered the Queen fondly as he shared anecdotes about her, including a touching story about her love of horses.

He told the PA News agency that the Queen had been “a presence right from the start” in his life.

Recalling the moment she appeared on the balcony during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations this year, he said: “There was an intake of breath (all) around, literally tens of thousands of people up and down The Mall, and everywhere, everyone was watching, that she was there suddenly and it meant a lot to people.

“We can call it sentimental and we can call it nostalgic, it isn’t, what it is, is huge respect-stroke-admiration-stroke-affection-stroke-love for someone who lived her life alongside ours, who affected this country.

“This strange country which doesn’t seem to know where it’s going, has very little sense of its history, which is a shame because its history is extraordinary, whether it’s negative or positive, it’s extraordinary.

“She was connected to all that by years and by understanding and I felt that she was very much the heart and soul of who we are, and troubled as we are, but had this wonderful way of repairing situations, of helping us in dark times”.

“The talk she gave during Covid, these were the words of someone who’s lived through troubles and darkness, and could therefore speak to all of us at that moment, and far better than any politician could.

“And I think that’s been really the extraordinary thing. This woman has been part of our lives, like it or not, you don’t have a monarchist, she meant something to millions and millions of people.”

Sir Michael’s War Horse was adapted into the now world-famous play, which premiered at the National Theatre in 2007.

Based on the book, the play, which uses true-to-size horse puppets, is set during the outbreak of the First World War and documents the extraordinary friendship between a young boy named Albert, and his horse Joey.

It was a staple on London’s West End for eight years and in 2011 it was released on the big screen in a film directed by Steven Spielberg.

Sir Michael recalled first meeting the Queen at the age of 16 as a cadet stationed in India.

“I shook her hand, because I was on the same tour that she was on in 1961. I just was in a line-up and I didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what to do, didn’t know whether to salute or not, I was just hopeless, all over the place”.

Their paths would cross again later in life, with the beloved author sitting next to the Queen at an event where he recounted her entrance and a touching anecdote she had told him about her love of horses.

He said: “We were all waiting, about eight or nine of us… All of us rather than nervous, how it this going to work out, not really knowing how to behave or what to say, which fork and spoon to use, all that sort of stuff going through our heads.

“And we were standing there and we heard this extraordinary sound – pitter, patter, pitter patter, and into the room came seven, I promise you seven corgis. And this was announcing the arrival really of the Queen… it was like a tiny, tiny little drumroll and then she was in front of us.

“And then she was just very kind. I was lucky enough to sit next to her for an hour or so and we talked, and of course what we talked about was her love of horses.”

Having asked the Queen how she came to her deep love of horses, he recounted: “She told me this lovely story about how she’d been given for a birthday – I don’t know what it was, 10-11 or something like that – she’d been given a surprise and was told to go down into the yard, it was at Buckingham Palace.

“And she’d loved horses, but little ponies up until then, she’d always ridden around on little ponies up until then.

“She went down and there was this horse, black, her first horse that she’d been given.

“And she told it very, very slowly. She said how she’d stood under the neck of this horse and couldn’t believe it’s beauty and it’s size, and she said, ‘I put my hand on this horse’s neck and it felt to me like warm velvet’.”

“It was an extraordinary moment of, I suppose tenderness, about something that she loved, the kind of thing you just don’t forget.”