Fresh heartache for Queen after third death in a month
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The Queen is mourning the loss of a close friend, the third to die in the span of a month.
Racing journalist, trainer and author, Ivor Herbert, passed away aged 96 on January 5.
British media reports Herbert was a longtime friend of the monarch and was a regular visitor to the Queen's Balmoral estate in Scotland.
He also trained the winning horse of the 1957 Cheltenham Gold Cup and collaborated with Princess Anne on her 1991 book Riding Through My Life.
Herbert is the third close friend of the Queen to pass away in just over a month.
Only four days after Christmas, Her Majesty's Lady-in-Waiting Lady Diana Farnham died aged 90.
Lady Farnham served as the Queen's Lady of Bedchamber since 1987, and also attended events during the 2012 Diamond Jubilee service, when Prince Philip was unable to be there due to illness
"It is very sad for the Queen," a royal source told The Telegraph "Everyone loved Lady Farnham, she was always so good humoured.
"She was also a very glamorous and attractive woman. She was always very generous to new people joining the household.
"It has not been a good year for the Queen — losing her husband and then the Duchess of Grafton and now Lady Farnham.
"They were dear friends who supported the Queen on official duties."
On December 5, the Queen lost her close confidant the Dowager Duchess of Grafton. The duchess was the second Mistress of the Robes of the Queen's reign and the most senior of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting.
She and the Queen formed a close bond over the years and the duchess was by Her Majesty's side at countless official events and overseas royal tours.
The Duchess of Grafton was appointed the Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in 1980, an honour given by the monarch for services to the sovereign.
The Queen became godmother to the duchess' second daughter in 1954.
The loss of the Queen's close friends so closely together is surely another blow to what already has been a trying 12 months for the British royal family following the death of Prince Phillip, Prince Andrew's ongoing legal battles, Prince Harry and Meghan's verbal attacks against the family and her own health battles.