Elizabeth Ann Drummond-Hay (4 August 1937 – 31 July 2022), better known as Anneli Drummond-Hay, was a British

eventer Eventing (also known as three day eventing or horse trials) is an equestrian event where a single horse and rider combine and compete against other competitors across the three disciplines of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping. This ...

and

show jumper Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ...

who won the 1961

Burghley Horse Trials The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is an annual three-day event held at Burghley House near Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, currently in early September. Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is classified by the FEI as one of the six leading th ...

riding her horse Merely-a-Monarch.

Early life

Drummond-Hay was born in Scotland on 4 August 1937 to James Drummond-Hay (1905–1981) and his wife

Lady The word ''lady'' is a term for a girl or woman, with various connotations. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the equivalent of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. Inform ...

Margaret Douglas-Hamilton (1907–1993), a daughter of

Alfred Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton Lieutenant Alfred Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton and 10th Duke of Brandon TD, DL (6 March 1862 – 16 March 1940) was a Scottish nobleman and sailor. Early life Hamilton was born at Shanklin, Isle of Wight, in 1862, the son ...

Competitive career

Drummond-Hay began riding on

polo Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

ponies. At the age of 16, she won the European Pony Championship and was the leading rider of combined training in Britain for three years. She won both

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

and the first ever

and was 2nd five times. She changed to

show jumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrianism, equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, Show hunter, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including th ...

and won many Grand Prix competitions including Brussels, Geneva, 's-Hertogenbosch, Paris, Berlin, Toronto, Chile, Luxembourg, Monaco, Madrid, Mexico, Amsterdam, South Africa, Palermo and Great Britain. She won 2nd in Aachen, Rotterdam and the La Baule Grand Prix. She won the Rome Derby on two occasions, the

Hickstead Derby The British Jumping Derby meeting – known for sponsorship reasons as the Al Shira'aa Hickstead Derby Meeting – is an annual showjumping event held since 1961 at the Hickstead in June every year. It is considered one of the premier events in th ...

, the Geneva Derby, the Berlin Derby and the South African Derby twice. She toured America and won the Grand Florida Championship, The Madison Square Garden's Championship and the All American Showjumping Championship. She represented Great Britain for 14 years on the Olympic Nations Cup Team and was awarded the FEI Badge of Honour. She won the European Show Jumping Championship. Was British Sportswoman of the year three times and South African Sportswoman of the Year eight times Awarded the “Premio Caprilli” by the Italian Equestrian Federation for her outstanding achievements. Awarded the “Golden Spurs” by the French Federation in conjunction with the Cadre Noir for her contribution to show jumping. Won the FEI/Samsung World Challenge on four occasions. She holds the ladies' world high jump record at 2.36 meters, set with the horse Sporting Ford. The only rider to be shortlisted at Olympic Level in Dressage, Showjumping and 3 Day Eventing for the same Olympic Games. She trained the Dutch Junior Showjumping Champion in 2000 and 2001 whilst based in the Netherlands. Trained the runner-up in the Junior European 3 Day Event in 2004. Her horse Merely-a-Monarch was inducted into the British Horse Society Equestrian Hall of Fame in 2005 and on 19 October 2010, she was inducted into

The British Horse Society Equestrian Hall of Fame The British Horse Society Equestrian Hall of Fame was launched in 2005 to pay homage to the people and horses who have made outstanding contributions to the sport of Equestrianism in Great Britain. Elections to the Hall of Fame are made by a Pane ...

. The award ceremony was held at the

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barracks in

Knightsbridge, London Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End. Toponymy Knightsbridge is an ancien ...

Personal life and death

Drummond-Hay held the B.H.S.I. qualification. She later ran Penny Place Stables in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, where she taught pupils at all ages and skill levels. Drummond-Hay was mentioned in the ''

Monty Python's Flying Circus ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became known ...

'' "Trailer Sketch" (narrated by

Eric Idle Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, musician and writer. Idle was a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band The Rutles, and is the writer of the music and lyrics for the Broadwa ...

) in the "Archaeology Today" episode in Season 2 where she was riding ''

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'' while being husband of

Jim Laker James Charles Laker (9 February 1922 – 23 April 1986) was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club from 1946 to 1959 and represented England in 46 Test matches. He was born in Shipley, West Riding of York ...

. At age 79, she was still competing on her horse, Apollo, and regularly placing in the top three. In 2022, she published her autobiography, ''Merely A Rider''. Drummond-Hay died from

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlar ...

on 31 July 2022, at the age of 84. She was survived by her husband, Trevor Bern.

References

1937 births 2022 deaths British autobiographers British equestrians Anneli Show jumping riders British event riders Deaths from lymphoma Deaths from cancer in the United Kingdom {{UK-equestrian-bio-stub es:Annelie Drummond-Hay