Platinum Jubilee artist

Freddy Paske on launching his art career on tour in Afghanistan, the privilege of working for The late Queen - and dressing his Shetland as an army vehicle

- Eleanor Jones

I have always ridden.

My father was in the Household Cavalry but I was in the Light Dragoons, which is similar but without the ceremonial role. I played polo and hunted with them, which is the much better side of equestrian life in the military! I see how hard they work to produce and turn out those horses; it’s almost seven days a week in Knightsbridge, very different to hunting and playing polo.

Sadly, since I’ve left the Army, I can’t afford any of that but I’m lucky – my sister Leila events and there are horses at home, so I can hop on one when I go and see them.

As for the Army, I’ve always had this passion. It’s plagued me.

My poor mother had a nightmare getting me to wear normal clothes. I remember insisting on wearing camouflage at Pony Club junior camp and her trying to get me into jodhpurs and a ratcatcher, but fancy dress was brilliant. We chopped down a bush and dressed the Shetland as a tank, with me on top dressed as a soldier.

At school, there was the opportunity to do an Army scholarship – a form of Sandhurst exam, which I passed and then was committed to three years in the Army after university.

I did an operational tour of Helmand province in Afghanistan in 2012, then went to Bosnia in a different role in 2014.