A Saskatchewan artist has a unique connection to the late Queen Elizabeth II. Susan Velder was tasked with making a sculpture of the Queen on her favourite horse Burmese for outside the Saskatchewan Legislature. Velder says Burmese was the Queen’s favourite horse. The horse was born at Fort Walsh and was raised and trained by the RCMP and was presented as a gift to Her Majesty by Canada. She believes she rode it for 19 years, and Velder tells the story of one time when she was riding the horse during an event and a gun was shot off, which spooked the other horses, but Burmese remained calm.

Velder’s experience with the Queen also includes a story about the hat in the sculpture. The St. Walburg artist says she was having some difficult with the shape of it so she called the palace to see if she could get a better picture. One of the Queen’s staff said to expect a call with the answer the next day, but instead, ten minutes later, the palace called and said when she approached the Queen, she said Velder could have the hat as long as she sent it back afterwards, which she did. Velder jokes that she had a lot of visitors while the hat was in her studio, once the community found out about it. Her Royal Highness unveiled the statue in front of the Legislature in 2005 when she visited Saskatchewan.

Velder says although she realizes the Queen was 96, she was still surprised to hear that she had died. She felt the Queen would rally back because she is so strong.