Our figurehead is not what she seems

We always thought that there was something odd about the UK's Queen Elizabeth II but an aside in a Wall Street Journal article today (subs. req'd) about Joe Allbritton, the controlling shareholder in the scandal-plagued Riggs National Bank of Washington DC clarifies it:

Even if the bank continues to go it alone, the problems are a sharp blow to Mr. Allbritton, the controlling shareholder of Riggs National Corp., the bank's parent, and a connoisseur of horseflesh and fine art whose friends include the queen of England.

Isn't this equine equation a tad disrespectful to her majesty?