Godolphin Arabian - in Fiction

In Fiction

A romanticized biography of the Godolphin Arabian is told in King of the Wind, a children's novel by Marguerite Henry (better known for her Misty of Chincoteague stories).

In the novel, the Godolphin Arabian was foaled in Morocco and was called Sham. He came to Europe as a diplomatic gift to King Louis XV of France, but due to his poor condition on arrival and relatively small size, was given to the cook as a cart horse and was soon sold to a woodcarter where he was poorly treated; he was then subsequently purchased in Paris by the Quaker Edward Coke of Holkham Hall, older brother of the 1st Earl of Leicester 5th Creation, then sold to Francis, Earl of Godolphin, who maintained a stud in Suffolk, near the racing town of Newmarket.