An announcement has been made about what will happen to the Queen's cherished corgis following her death. Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah, the Duchess of York, will look after the dogs, it has been confirmed.
The Queen owned more than 30 corgis during her reign and was known for her love of the breed. A spokeswoman for Andrew, the Duke of York, said he and the duchess would take in Muick and Sandy - pets the late monarch received as gifts from her son.
Most of the Queen’s corgis were descended from her first corgi, Susan, who was gifted to her on her 18th birthday in 1944. The Queen looked after her own dogs as much as possible and during weekends spent at Windsor, the corgis went too and lived in her private apartments.
She fed them whenever her busy schedule permitted and also enjoyed walking the dogs. In early 2021, she was given two new puppies, one dorgi and one corgi, as a gift by Andrew while staying at Windsor during lockdown.
The Queen named the dorgi Fergus after her uncle who was killed in action during the First World War, and the corgi Muick, pronounced Mick, after Loch Muick on the Balmoral estate. But the monarch five-month-old Fergus died just weeks later.
He was later replaced with a new corgi puppy, from Andrew and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie for her official 95th birthday, who the Queen named Sandy. The puppies were a constant source of joy for the Queen during lockdown, her dresser Angela Kelly said.
Andrew spoke to well-wishers lining the route to Balmoral, where the Queen died, on Saturday. He told a mourner: "We’ve been allowed one day, now we start the process of handing her on."
The Platinum Jubilee celebrations highlighted the Queen's love of corgis earlier this year. There was a “corgi derby” at Musselburgh racecourse, plus a gathering of 70 corgis at Balmoral.
