Let’s talk about Queen Elizabeth II’s favorite pets — corgi.
The love for the Welsh Corgi Pembroke (Welsh Corgi Pembroke) for a lifetime began in early childhood — for the first time she saw dogs of this breed in the house of the Marquesses of Bath, where their family often went to visit. The dogs liked her so much that her parents gave her a puppy. He was named Dookie. The Princess and her younger sister Margaret take care of him they took over, and did not leave it to the servants. The girls liked Dookie so much that soon another dog appeared in the family — Jane. But those were «family» dogs. Dookie died immediately after the outbreak of World War II, Jane was hit by a car in 1944. It was a great grief for the princesses.
The first personal pet was given to Princess Elizabeth by her father for 18 years — corgi Susan. Subsequently, all the royal corgis were descendants of Susan — Elizabeth II had about 30 of them in her lifetime. The future Queen loved Susan so much that she took her on their honeymoon with Prince Philip in Hampshire in 1947. Susan died in 1959, and she was buried in the pet cemetery in Sandringham (the cemetery appeared in the time of Queen Victoria). Elizabeth’s last dog, Willow, was her 14th-generation descendant.
At different times, Elizabeth II had a different number of dogs, sometimes up to 5 and even up to 9. She was engaged in their breeding herself. And even brought out a new breed — dorgi — crossing dachshund and corgi. She never sold pets, some stayed in the family, the rest she gave to children or gave into good hands. The queen’s love for her dogs is huge — royal corgis eat beef steaks and chicken breasts, which are prepared for them by the chef, and Elizabeth often feeds the pets herself. And they live in their own «corgi room», where they sleep in wicker baskets on stands — to protect them from drafts. No liberties were allowed from the staff regarding the corgi’s nutrition: for example, in 1999 one of the footmen was fired for jokingly pouring whiskey and gin into a bowl for the animals.
The Queen stopped breeding pets in 2015, arguing that she did not want her corgis to survive her. The last of the royal corgis, Willow, died in 2018. In 2020, there was no dorga Volcano. An unspoken ban on new puppies at Buckingham Palace was violated last spring — the Queen was given 2 puppies when Prince Philip was hospitalized. Of the «oldies», only Candy is alive.
Royal corgis have definitely become a symbol of the British monarchy. In 2002, as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the board, corgi was depicted on collectible coins. In 2012, three of Her Majesty’s dogs, Monty, Willow and Holly, starred together with the owner and actor Daniel Craig in a short video about James Bond, shown at the opening of the Olympic Games in London. And in 2019, the cartoon «Royal Corgis» was filmed about pets.