Over the decades, Queen Elizabeth's feisty corgis became famous not only for their loyalty to the Queen but also for their "cuddly" yet "psycho" antics around Buckingham Palace and beyond. Their playful nature often led to unexpected—and sometimes hilarious—situations that kept the royal household on its toes. One such encounter was documented in a memo to a royal photographer, and the note recently went up for auction in a rare lot of letters from the late Queen.
Auction house Hansons acquired a set of cards and letters from various members of the Royal Family that had been sent to photography expert Alan Maxwell, who helped develop the royals' film, order prints and select photos for their Christmas cards. A box full of prints, proofs, cards and letters from Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana, King Charles and other members of the family was recently discovered 15 years after Maxwell's death.
One such note gives an insight into the late Queen's cheeky dogs' personalities, with the memo reading—in Queen Elizabeth's handwriting—"Please check the prints with the negatives to find out which is missing—eaten by the puppies!" She signed the paper, which read "memorandum from The Queen" at the top, with her initials, "ER." The memo was sold as part of a lot of letters and cards from The Queen and sold for well over £1,000 more than expected, going for £1,900 (roughly $2,400) versus its original estimate of £500-£700.
Sadly, there's no reference to what the photos in question were, but somehow, I have a feeling the corgis didn't scolded too much. The Royal Family's dogs have been notorious for getting into scrapes—and in two cases, their behavior ended in murder and a criminal record.
In Craig Brown's biography of Queen Elizabeth II, Q: A Voyage Around The Queen, he revealed numerous instances of royal dogs gone wild. One story involved Princess Anne's dog attacking two local children in Windsor, resulting in the Princess Royal going to court and leaving with a criminal record.
"Corgis, are, it turns out, an unpredictable, temperamental bunch, one minute cuddly, the next psycho, the Corleones of the dog world," Brown wrote in the book. In fact, one of The Queen's corgis was sadly mauled to death by one of The Queen Mother's out-of-control dogs in 1989.
Back to the royal letters, Charles Hanson, the auction house's owner, called photo expert Maxwell—who died in 2009—"a man of absolute discretion" who had thus earned the Royal Family's "respect."
“It’s important in terms of royal history but also allows us to pay tribute to a man held in high esteem by royalty," Hanson added in a press release. "In the digital age it’s easy to forget that all photos used to be sent off to be developed and printed. The Royal Family, among the most photographed people in the world, came to rely on Mr. Maxwell for their photographic needs and he was proud to serve them.”
