Britain’s King Charles III has been gifted a new horse, named Noble, by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as part of a long-standing royal tradition.
“Noble was selected as the ideal horse for His Majesty because of her size and ability,” Royal Communications said in a statement on Saturday.
Charles met the seven-year-old black mare, who was bred and trained in Pakenham, Ont., for the first time earlier this week.
She was recognized for her “superior physical and athletic ability, as well as her composed personality,” the palace statement said.
The RCMP said Charles had requested a new horse from the musical ride to eventually be his new charge when his current one, George, retires.
Noble will be presented to Charles in a ceremony, the details of which will be released at a later date, the RCMP said in a statement Saturday.
Charles, 74, automatically became king in September on the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II, who was a keen rider and loved horses.
The official coronation ceremony for him and his wife Camilla, the queen consort, will take place on May 6.
This is not the first time the RCMP has gifted a horse to the British Royal Family.
The long tradition of gifting horses dates back to 1969, when the RCMP presented Queen Elizabeth II with the jet-black horse that would go on to become her favourite — Burmese.
Over the course of her reign, Queen Elizabeth II received eight horses from the Mounties, and she gifted back two from her stables.
One of those is Victoria, a five-year-old mare bred from a Canadian horse named Elizabeth that the RCMP had gifted to the Queen in 2012.
— with files from Global News’ Amanda Connolly and Reuters.