New royal couple looks Czech gift horse in the mouth
Amid all the disagreements in the cabinet there has also been wrangling of a different sort – apparently the issue of what to give the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, for a wedding present. The powers that be in fact agreed on quite a lot on Wednesday, and between an anti-corruption bill, welfare reform and a ten-year outlook for the armed forces, they also hammered an agreement to give the new royal couple a horse. It is of course a horse as souped up as they come, a rare young stallion with a radiant pedigree, but London apparently wants a look under the bonnet before they welcome the gift horse to the queen’s own stables.
“The government has given its consent to transfer, free of charge, a Kladruber stallion, Favory Alta XXI, to Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. It’s a white Kladruber...”
Three weeks late is better than never; the crisis-prone Czech government has, after all, a lot on its plate at the moment. The present itself was first announced before the wedding – an idea of Agriculture Minister Ivan Fuksa – but it was not approved until just now. The British though have met the gift horse with a matched lack of haste and apparently asked for a peek in its proverbial mouth.
“At the request of Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the horse will remain for the time being in the National Stud at Kladruby. Also at their request, however, to give you another detail, a test tube with specific genetic material will be travelling to the United Kingdom. In other words, part of the stallion will arrive in Britain ahead of time.”
“It was chosen for several reasons, primarily because it is a classic Kladruber which comes from the oldest thoroughbred line, the origin of which goes back to 1779. And lastly it is also because we also have the horse’s half-brother of the same age, which you could say is just as good, so our breeding programme will not be affected if this horse leaves the stable.”
