Skip to main content
The Morning Star Shop
Queen invites tyrant to posh horse show
Blue bloods enjoy dressage as Bahraini human rights defenders despair
Queen Elizabeth II (left) with the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, during the endurance phase at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, held in the grounds of Windsor Great Park in Berkshire, today

HUMAN rights campaigners branded the Queen’s invitation for the Bahraini dictator to the annual Royal Windsor Horse Show a “moral disgrace” yesterday.  

Bahrain’s absolute ruler King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa arrived into Britain on Thursday at the behest of the Queen to attend Britain’s largest outdoor horse show despite warnings that his regime has intensified its already brutal human rights abuses.  

Director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (Bird) Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, who has family members jailed in the country for speaking out against the absolute monarchy, described the situation as shameful. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Female racing driver Aseel al-Hamad celebrates the end of the ban on women drivers in 2018 with a lap of honour in a sports car. Photo: JaguarMENA/ Creative Commons
Women's Rights / 25 November 2025
25 November 2025

As Saudi Arabia is hailed abroad for its ‘reforms,’ the reality for women inside the kingdom grows ever more repressive. On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, MARYAM ALDOSSARI argues it is time to stop applauding the illusion – and start listening to the women the state works hardest to silence

Left to right; Louis Mountbatten, Elizabeth and Philip Windsor wave from the balcony of Buckingham Palace, June 1977
Monarchy / 7 November 2025
7 November 2025

STEPHEN ARNELL wonders at the family resemblance between former prince Andrew and his great-uncle ‘Dickie’

DETACHED FROM THE PEOPLE: Gilgit Baltisan assembly located in Jutial Gilgit built in 2019 / Pic: Kskhh/CC
Kashmir / 30 July 2025
30 July 2025

JOE ATTARD explains why trade unionists are rallying in solidarity against the recent arrest of political activists in Gilgit-Baltistan, the northernmost region of Kashmir, administered by Pakistan