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Queen ElizabethII,who died on Sept. 8 at the age of 96, was just a young girl when her famed interest in corgi dogs began.
The breed first stole her heart in 1933, when her father, the soon-to-be King George VI,brought home a corgi named Dookie from a local kennel. Soon after Dookie came another furry friend, Jane.
According toVanity Fair, these first corgis kept Elizabeth and her sister Margaret company as they fled to Windsor Castle during World War II.
The Queen’s early love for the stout breed eventually led to a corgi dynasty. Atop the royal corgi family lineage sits Susan, whom the Queen received as a gift for her 18th birthday. Susan gave birth to Honey and Sugar and from therethe corgi family tree expanded to include dozens of dogsthat can be traced back to Susan, who even joined the Queen andPrince Philipon their honeymoon to Scotland.
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The Queen was dog mum to more than 30 corgis and dachshund-corgi mixes known as “dorgis.” As one might guess, her pets lived lives of luxury, from the food they noshed to the attention they received.
According to former royal chef Darren McGrady, the pooches could expect an elaborate, rotating menu featuring beef, lamb, rabbit and chicken. “The Queen would feed them herself, I think after she’d had her tea,” McGradysaid to Hello! Magazinein April 2022.
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As she surrounded herself with more and more corgis, the Queen developed a preference for the breed’s specific features. Diana King, the Welsh Corgi League’s former chairman, toldVanity Fairthat the Queen liked their coats to be a darker red color, with “not too much white on them.”
King even recalled a time her own dog, Oliver, crossed into the Queen’s line of sight. “Oh, he’s got a lot of white on him, hasn’t he?” King remembered the monarch noting in a tone traced with “faint disapproval,” King shared inVanity Fair.
With such a prominent presence in the media, the royal corgis have not gone without scandal. In 1968, an overzealous pupnipped a postmandelivering mail to Balmoral Castle. This prompted British politician Peter Doig to suggest the Queen’s staff hang a “Beware of the Dog” sign outside of her properties.
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In 1999, Buckingham Palace reportedlypenalized a footmanfor allegedly pouring booze into the dogs' food and water bowls, calling it his “party trick” and relishing in the humor of watching the corgis “stagger about when they were a bit tipsy,” a source toldThe Sun.
Generally, however, the corgis were beloved within and beyond the palace walls. Their likeness could be found in art paying tribute to the Queen, and events honoringQueen ElizabethII inherently celebrated the breed as well. In 2002, for the monarch’s Golden Jubilee (her 50th anniversary on the throne), the United Kingdom issued a new coin depicting the Queen alongside a corgi.
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The world saw a corgi cameo in a short sketch from the2012 Olympics opening ceremony, in which the Queen was escorted to the London games via helicopter with Daniel Craig, in character as James Bond.
Queen Elizabeth.Bettmann
The monarch opted tostop taking on corgis in the mid-2010sbecause, according toThe Telegraph, she did not want to leave any dog behind when she died.
In 2021, however, she did welcome new additions to the royal corgi pack. Afterreceiving two puppiesin March 2021 not long beforePrince Philip’s death — and suffering the loss of one dog just weeks later — Prince Andrewgifted his motherwith a new puppy on what would have been Philip’s 100th birthday, a full circle moment from Elizabeth’s first gifted corgi when she was just 7 years old.
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source: people.com
