What happens to the Queen's beloved dogs now? Royal family and staff to take care of her best friends
LONDON, ENGLAND: Queen Elizabeth II has tragically passed away, leaving the entire country in disbelief as a double rainbow appeared over Buckingham Palace after her death. The longest-serving monarch was accompanied by members of the royal family in her final moments in Balmoral. As a result of her death, we have a new King of England — King Charles III. In this hustle and bustle, we tend to forget about the Queen's best friends - her corgis. Who is going to take care of them?
The 96-year-old monarch had been dealing with her crumbling health for quite some time but she was always accompanied by her first true companions - her corgis. Ingrid Seward, a royal biographer, told Newsweek before her death, "She loves animals and she absolutely adores dogs. She always has done, they were her first love and they will be her last." Author Penny Junor told the publication, "I imagine the dogs would be looked after by the family, probably Andrew [as] he's the one that gave them to her, they're quite young, the corgi and the dorgi." The late monarch had more than 30 corgis and other pets, including different breeds of dogs and horses, in her entire 70-year reign.
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The Queen had two pure-bred corgis, Muick and Sandy, who were gifted to her by the Duke of York and his daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. They were gifted to her so that the Queen would have some company during the lockdown and while Prince Philip was in the hospital. Junor further describes the Queen's relationship with her dogs and writes, "It is her love of dogs, as much as anything else, that enables so many of us to feel we have a special connection with. Strip away the wealth, the privilege, and the palaces, and the bond she has with her dogs is no different from the bond the rest of us have ours, no matter our station in life."
Who will take care of the Queen's dogs?
The fact that the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, gifted the Queen her recent dogs, it would be him who would take care of the lonely dogs now that their owner is gone. The Queen's love for dogs goes back to the year 1933. When she was seven years old, her father King George VI brought home Dookie, a Pembroke Welsh corgi, and the rest was history. Fast forward to 1944, she was gifted a corgi named Susan on her 18th birthday. It is said that the rest of her corgis descended from her. It was also reported that the Queen was so obsessed with Susan that she even snuck her on her honeymoon in 1947 which her husband Prince Phillip did not really like.
Back in 2018, Junor wrote in her book 'All The Queen's Corgis', "Care of the dogs has fallen sometimes to footmen but mostly to the Queen's trusted dressmaker, assistant and right-hand woman, Angela Kelly; and to her equally trusted page of many years standing, Paul Whybrew, who was seen walking with the Queen and the dogs in the James Bond spoof." She continued, "Both are fond of the dogs, have unfettered access to the Queen, and are said to be very close to her."