The Duchess of York has shared a new update on the last remaining corgis that belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Sarah Ferguson, who adopted Sandy and Muick after the late Queen’s death in September 2022, posted a photograph of the two dogs on a festive outing in the lead-up to Christmas.
“Always begging for treats!” Ferguson captioned the photograph as the two animals stare gleefully in the direction of the camera.
The late Queen’s love of corgis was well documented throughout her lifetime, and the dog breed played a key role in her platinum jubilee celebrations in June 2022 when the sky above Buckingham Palace was lit up with an image of a corgi.
Following her death, the dogs now live at Royal Lodge with Ferguson and her ex-husband Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. However, the dog’s transition into the York household wasn’t as smooth as the royal family hoped – it took around a year for Muick to come to terms with a feeling similar to grief.
Sensing Muick’s changing behaviours, Ferguson revealed last month that Muick grieved the late monarch’s death for over a year.
“There are two corgis that came, big Muick and Sandy, and there were five Norfolk Terriers that were there too – seven in all,” she said in an interview with This Morning in November.
“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].”
Dog trainer Graeme Hall, presenter of the Channel 5 show Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly said on the programme that the canines were experiencing a “settling in” process that is similar to grief.
“It’s a big deal for them,” he explained. “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.”
The Duchess 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.”
