Sarah, Duchess of York, has described how one of the late Queen’s corgis she adopted after the monarch’s death grieved for its owner.
She revealed it has taken around a year for the dog called Muick to come to terms with Elizabeth II’s death, when she chatted to Graeme Hall, presenter of the Channel 5 show Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly.
The former member of the royal family co-hosted and guest-edited the ITV1 show This Morning and quizzed Hall about her pet’s behaviour, when he appeared alongside her to talk about re-homing dogs.
The duchess, who adopted two of the late Queen’s corgis with ex-husband the Duke of York, said: “There are two corgis that came, big Muick and Sandy, and there were five Norfolk Terriers that were there too – seven in all.
“And big Muick is very, very, very demonstrative, he had his tail down to begin with and then now, a year later … he’s just beginning now to really enjoy (himself).”
A few weeks ago Sarah, shared a photo of herself crouching on the edge of a field with Sandy and Muick, gifts from Andrew the Queen’s son, as she commemorated the anniversary of Elizabeth II’s death.
The duchess already has a number of other pets.
Hall said about the corgis: “So let’s talk about how they settled in, because it’s a big deal for them. You’re losing the person that you’ve been with – mum. And then you find yourself in a different place. So you’ve almost got two problems at once, there.
“There’s a kind of grieving process, and we know that dogs do go through a grieving process as well. We don’t fully understand it because we can’t chat to them over a cup of coffee, but you certainly see behaviour change, sometimes they’re very flat.”
Sarah went on to comment how Muick was demanding extra attention: “He’s just sort of putting himself in the way so when I go to pat one dog, he comes straight in the way.”
The dog expert advised the duchess to firmly say “no” to the dog if it tries to come between her and another pet, and then praise it afterwards if it complies.
The duchess said about her pets: “They all get on, you just have to be mindful. And they all have their own characters, and be mindful of their characters.”
During the show Sarah’s first task was to go through stories in the newspapers with her co-hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary and guest Gyles Brandreth, and the discussion turned to I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
The duchess was quizzed about whether she had been approached to appear in the programme, and replied: “Every single year.”
But when asked by O’Leary what Christmas dinners were like when the Queen hosted her family at Sandringham, she replied: “Beans on toast – Gyles, over to you.”
