Some 33 years ago, my predecessor as social columnist, Irene ffrench, described Walter Gilbey's arrival at the Horse Show driving an 80-year-old coach complete with a team of four. On Thursday, history repeated itself when Walter, whose grandfather Sir Walter Gilbey founded the Gilbey firm, returned to the RDS driving the same coach, which is now over 100 years old. The occasion was the launch of book entitled Gilbeys, Wine And Horses which follows two generations of the family whose name is so familiar to the wine world but is equally celebrated in equine circles. It is written by Jane Kidd, international judge, competitor and trainer, and grand-daughter of Lord Beaverbrook.
The coach was bought in 1948 out of sentimentality - Walter's great-grandfather was a stagecoach man who ran a coach line from London, and he thought it would be fun to revive the idea. In the 1960s he and his family could be seen regularly driving the coach around London in the thickest traffic - a much rarer sight these days.