Sir Michael Oswald
Manager of the Royal Studs who advised the Queen and the Queen Mother on breeding racehorses
SIR MICHAEL OSWALD, who has died just short of his 87th birthday, was Manager and later Director of the Royal Studs at Sandringham from 1970 to 1999, and the Queen Mother’s racing manager from 1970 to 2002.
Since 2003 he had been the Queen’s National Hunt adviser. As such he was closely in touch with the Queen and kept her informed of new foals born, covered many miles in his car to be able to report on races in which she had a runner, and was a regular guest at Sandringham, near which he lived.
His wife, Lady Angela, was a Woman of the Bedchamber to the Queen Mother from 1981 to 2002, and herself the niece of Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester.
William Richard Michael Oswald was born on April 21 1934, the elder of two sons of Lt-col Hugh Oswald, ERD, and his wife, Rose-marie Leahy. Michael’s father worked for the Anglo-american Oil Company and his grandfather had been chairman.
The Oswalds were of Scottish origin, with strong links to Canada, Michael’s great-grandfather having taken part in Riel’s Rebellion in Saskatchewan in 1885.
Young Michael was brought up in Surrey, educated at Scaitcliffe prep school and Eton, and later at King’s College, Cambridge. He did National Service in the King’s Own Royal Regiment, serving in Korea, and was later a Captain in the Royal Fusiliers (TA).
After a brief career in merchant banking and pharmaceuticals, he became, in 1960, a pupil and later manager of the Lordship and Egerton Studs at Newmarket for Sir Reginald and Lady Macdonald-buchanan.
He was one of the best instructors in all aspects of stud management, and helped many pupils take on important posts in the bloodstock industry. Among these were Sir Philip Payne Gallwey, adviser and manager to the
Niarchos family; Michael Goodbody, manager to the late Maktoum al Maktoum’s worldwide Gainsborough Stud operations; Richard Lancaster (stud director) and Angus Gold (racing manager) to the late Hamdan al Maktoum; and Peter Reynolds, stud director for Lord Weinstock at the Ballymacoll stud.
Oswald was appointed to Sandringham in 1970. At that time they separated the jobs of stud manager and racing manager, which meant that the entire horse breeding operation in four studs (Sandringham, Wolferton, Hampton Court, and Polhampton in Berkshire) was in his sole care.
The Queen funded her racing life privately, and he would call her personally two or three times a week, impressed by her knowledge and attention to detail. By this time he was aware that in international competition the Queen could not compete with the Arabs, though she still obtained a high percentage of winners.
Accompanying her to a stud in
Kentucky, he was amused when the American Secret Service were shocked that she would go for a walk in pouring rain. He was one of the team who accompanied her to France in 1974, when Highclere won the Prix de Diane, and £98,000, at Chantilly.
The Oswalds accompanied the Queen Mother to many race meetings, Sir Michael being with her at Ascot just before her 100th birthday. The Queen discussed many things with Sir Michael, but never politics. When Harold Wilson produced the so-called “Social Contract” he suggested that might be a suitable name for the latest foal. He was rewarded with what he described as “a bleak look from the monarch”.
There were few equestrian organisations with which he was not involved. He was president of the Thoroughbred Breeders Association, chairman of the Bloodstock Industry Committee, Animal Health Trust, a trustee of the British Equine Veterinary Association Trust, and a member of the Jockey Club.
Oswald was a man with impeccable manners. He used to cite the late Duke of Devonshire as having the finest manners in England, and the same could be said of him. He loved to study military history, and was a keen amateur painter.
When Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles took Oswald to the British Army Equipment Exhibition in 1984, he astonished the experts with his knowledge of modern machinery, techniques and guns. He accompanied Field Marshal Lord Inge as his adviser to the 80th anniversary commemoration of Gallipoli. Oswald preserved a lifetime of interests in meticulously kept albums and scrapbooks.
On his 24th birthday in 1958 he married Lady Angela Cecil, third daughter of the 6th Marquess of Exeter, an Olympic 400 metres hurdles champion. The Duke and
Duchess of Gloucester, Prince William, Prince Richard and Princess Alice, and the Countess of Athlone joined the congregation at St Margaret’s, Westminster.
In 2001 he was proud to have been appointed Honorary Air Commodore of 2620 Squadron Royal Auxiliary Air Force, based at RAF Marham. He took part in their exercises, in locations including in the US and Cyprus, and visited them during their tour of Afghanistan, staying at Camp Bastion.
When he confessed to his GP that there must be something wrong because he found it difficult getting in and out of helicopters quickly, she replied: “That’s because you’re 80.” Unusually, for an officer of his age, his appointment was extended twice, to a total of 15 years.
He advanced through the Royal Victorian Order, being knighted as KCVO in 1998, and had the rare distinction in 2019 of being promoted to GCVO, receiving the insignia from the Queen privately at Sandringham in January 2020. Even when he was in failing health the Queen kindly allowed him to consider himself working for her right to the end.
In his unpublished memoirs, he wrote: “At almost every turn I have met good luck in Life. I am the luckiest chap I have ever met.” He died on the morning of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral. The first military parade in which he had taken part was in the Eton College Cadet Corps, forming up, heads bowed and arms reversed, when George VI’S funeral procession arrived at St George’s Chapel in 1952.
He is survived by Lady Angela, his daughter Katharine, a law lecturer at BPP University, and his son William, who has pursued a career in business and the charitable sector.