![Queen Mother with corgis](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Queen_Mother_with_corgis.jpg)
The royal corgis are the
Pembroke Welsh Corgi
The Pembroke Welsh Corgi (; Welsh for "dwarf dog") is a cattle herding dog breed that originated in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is one of two breeds known as a Welsh Corgi. Pembroke Welsh Corgis descended from the Spitz family of dogs. The other i ...
dogs formerly owned by
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
and her parents,
King George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...
and
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was the l ...
. Fond of corgis since she was a small child, Elizabeth II owned more than 30 corgis from her accession in 1952 until her death in 2022.
She owned at least one corgi throughout the years 1933 to 2018.
The royal corgis were globally publicised (such as in the cover photo and feature article of ''Vanity Fairs Summer 2016 edition
). Leaving a lasting legacy after death, they have been depicted and immortalised in various artwork, such as statues, professional photographs, and paintings. For instance, the
crown coin commemorating the
Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II
The Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II was the international celebration held in 2002 marking the 50th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952. It was intended by the Queen to be both a commemoration of her 50 years as ...
depicts the Queen with a corgi.
History
![Queen's corgi tree - 3 generations](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Queen%27s_corgi_tree_-_3_generations.PNG)
The Queen was very fond of corgis since she was a small child,
having fallen in love with the corgis owned by the children of
the Marquess of Bath.
King George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of Ind ...
brought home
Dookie
''Dookie'' is the third studio album and the major label debut by American rock band Green Day, released on February 1, 1994, by Reprise Records. The band's first collaboration with producer Rob Cavallo, it was recorded in late 1993 at Fantas ...
in 1933.
A photograph from George VI's photo album shows a ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth (later
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
) with Dookie at
Balmoral. Elizabeth and her sister
Princess Margaret
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth ...
would feed Dookie by hand from a dish held by a footman.
The other early favorite corgi during the same time was Jane.
Elizabeth II's mother, at that time
Queen Elizabeth, introduced a disciplined regimen for the dogs; each was to have its own
wicker
Wicker is the oldest furniture making method known to history, dating as far back as 5,000 years ago. It was first documented in ancient Egypt using pliable plant material, but in modern times it is made from any pliable, easily woven material. ...
basket, raised above the floor to avoid drafts. Meals were served for each dog in its own dish, the diet approved by
veterinary experts with no tidbits from the royal table. A proprietary brand of meat dog biscuits was served in the morning, while the late afternoon meal consisted of dog meal with gravy. Extra biscuits were handed out for celebrations and rewards.
Crackers (24 December 1939, Windsor – November, 1953) was one of the Queen Mother's corgis, and nearly a constant companion; he retired with the Queen Mother to the
Castle of Mey in Scotland.
In 1944, Elizabeth was given
Susan as a gift on her 18th birthday. Susan accompanied Elizabeth on her honeymoon in 1947. The corgis owned by the Queen are descended from Susan.
Rozavel Sue, daughter of Rozavel Lucky Strike, an international champion, was one of the Queen's corgis in the early 1950s.
When Elizabeth and
Prince Philip
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...
visited
Grand Cayman
Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the territory's capital, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles (121 km) southwest of Little Cayman and 90 miles ( ...
in 1983, government officials gave her
black coral
Antipatharians, also known as black corals or thorn corals, are an order of soft deep-water corals. These corals can be recognized by their jet-black or dark brown chitin skeletons, surrounded by the polyps (part of coral that is alive). Antipat ...
sculptures of a corgi and a horse as a gift, both made by Bernard Passman.
Domestic life
![Madame Tussaud's Museum in Shanghai, China](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Madame_Tussaud%27s_Museum_in_Shanghai%2C_China.jpg)
Sugar was the nursery pet of Prince Charles (now
Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...
) and
Princess Anne
Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of K ...
.
In 1955, her dogs, Whisky and Sherry, were surprise Christmas gifts from the Queen to the Prince and Princess.
Pictured with the royal family, the corgi Sugar made the cover of ''The Australian Women's Weekly'' on 10 June 1959.
Sugar's twin, Honey, belonged to the Queen Mother; Honey took midday runs with Johnny and Pippin, Princess Margaret's corgis, whilst the Princess lived in Buckingham Palace. Heather was born in 1962 and became one of the Queen's favourites. Heather was the mother of Tiny, Bushy, and Foxy; Foxy gave birth to Brush in 1969.
The corgis enjoyed a privileged life in Buckingham Palace. They resided in a bespoke room devoted to their habitation, known as the Corgi Room, and slept in elevated wicker baskets.
The Queen tended to the corgis in her
kennel
A kennel is a structure or shelter for dogs. Used in the plural, ''the kennels'', the term means any building, collection of buildings or a property in which dogs are housed, maintained, and (though not in all cases) bred. A kennel can be made o ...
herself. She also chose the sires of litters that were bred in her kennel. The corgis had an extensive menu at the palace which included fresh rabbit and beef, served by a gourmet chef.
At Christmas, the Queen made stockings for the pets full of toys and delicacies such as biscuits.
In 1999, one of Queen Elizabeth's royal footmen was demoted from Buckingham Palace for his "party trick of pouring
booze into the corgis' food and water" and watching them "
staggering about" with relish.
In 2007, the Queen was noted to have five corgis, Monty, Emma, Linnet, Willow, and Holly; five
cocker spaniel
Cocker Spaniels are dogs belonging to two breeds of the spaniel dog type: the American Cocker Spaniel and the English Cocker Spaniel of which are commonly called simply Cocker Spaniel in their countries of origin. In the early 20th century, Cocker ...
s, Bisto, Oxo, Flash, Spick, and Span; and four "dorgis" (
dachshund-corgi
crossbreeds), Cider, Berry, Vulcan, and Candy.
In 2012, Queen Elizabeth II's corgis Monty, Willow, and Holly appeared during the brief
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
sketch when
Daniel Craig
Daniel Wroughton Craig (born 2 March 1968) is an English-American actor who gained international fame playing the secret agent James Bond in the film series, beginning with '' Casino Royale'' (2006) and in four further instalments, up to '' ...
arrived at Buckingham Palace for a mission to take the queen to the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
opening ceremony. Monty, who had previously belonged to the
Queen Mother
A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also used to describe a number of ...
, and one of her "Dorgis" died in September 2012. Monty had been named after the
horse whisperer
Natural horsemanship is a collective term for a variety of horse training techniques which have seen rapid growth in popularity since the 1980s. The techniques vary in their precise tenets but generally share principles of "a kinder and gentler ...
and friend of the Queen,
Monty Roberts
Marvin Earl "Monty" Roberts MVO (born May 14, 1935) is an American horse trainer who promotes his techniques of natural horsemanship through his ''Join-Up International'' organization, named after the core concept of his training method. Roberts ...
. It was reported in July 2015 that the Queen stopped breeding corgis as she did not wish any to survive her in the event of her death. Monty Roberts had urged Elizabeth to breed more corgis in 2012, but she had told him that she "didn't want to leave any young dog behind" and wanted to put an end to the practice.
By April 2018, with the death of Willow, the Queen no longer had any full-bred corgis. Only one dorgi, Candy, was still alive.
Candy was joined by another dorgi pup named Fergus and a pure-bred corgi called Muick in 2021, both gifts from her son
Prince Andrew
Prince Andrew, Duke of York, (Andrew Albert Christian Edward; born 19 February 1960) is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger brother of King Charles III and the third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince ...
, and granddaughters Princesses
Beatrice and
Eugenie to cheer her up after the
death of her husband Prince Philip.
Fergus died from a heart defect at five-months old in the same year.
In June 2021, the Queen was gifted a new corgi, Sandy, by Andrew, Beatrice and Eugenie.
It was
Sarah, Duchess of York
Sarah, Duchess of York (born Sarah Margaret Ferguson; 15 October 1959), also known by the nickname Fergie, is a member of the British royal family. She is the former wife of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, the younger brother of King Charles III ...
, who found the puppies that were gifted to the Queen.
After
the Queen's death in September 2022, it was announced that Andrew and Sarah would adopt the two surviving royal corgis, and they would be resettled to their residence in the
Royal Lodge
The Royal Lodge is a Grade II listed house in Windsor Great Park in Berkshire, England, half a mile north of Cumberland Lodge and south of Windsor Castle. Part of the Crown Estate, it was the Windsor residence of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mothe ...
on the
Windsor Estate.
The dogs have traditionally been buried at the royal residence, Sandringham estate in
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, at which they died. The graveyard was first used by
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
when her
Collie
Collies form a distinctive type of herding dogs, including many related landraces and standardized breeds. The type originated in Scotland and Northern England. Collies are medium-sized, fairly lightly-built dogs, with pointed snouts. Man ...
, Noble, died in 1887.
Attacks
On several occasions, the Queen or her staff have been injured by the corgis. In 1954, the palace clock winder, Leonard Hubbard, was bitten by
Susan upon entering the nursery at the
Royal Lodge
The Royal Lodge is a Grade II listed house in Windsor Great Park in Berkshire, England, half a mile north of Cumberland Lodge and south of Windsor Castle. Part of the Crown Estate, it was the Windsor residence of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mothe ...
,
Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
.
Later in the same year, one of the Queen Mother's corgis bit a policeman on guard duty in London.
In 1968, Labour MP
Peter Doig
Peter Doig ( ; born 17 April 1959) is a Scottish painter. One of the most renowned living figurative painters, he has settled in Trinidad since 2002. In 2007, his painting ''White Canoe'' sold at Sotheby's for $11.3 million, then an auction rec ...
called for the royal staff to put up a "
Beware of the dog
Beware of the dog (also rendered as Beware of dog) is a warning sign indicating that a dangerous dog is within. Such signs may be placed to deter burglary even if there is no dog.
History
Warning signs of this sort have been found in ancie ...
" sign at
Balmoral after one of the corgis bit a postman. In February 1989, it was reported that the royal family had hired an animal psychologist to tame the dogs after they developed a habit of nipping them and the staff. In 1989, the Queen Mother’s dog, Ranger, led a pack of corgis that attacked and killed the Queen’s beloved corgi, Chipper.
In March 1991, the Queen was bitten after trying to break up a fight between ten or so of her corgis. She had to have three stitches to her left hand. John Collins, the Queen Mother's chauffeur, had to have a
tetanus
Tetanus, also known as lockjaw, is a bacterial infection caused by ''Clostridium tetani'', and is characterized by muscle spasms. In the most common type, the spasms begin in the jaw and then progress to the rest of the body. Each spasm usually ...
injection after he also tried to intervene. In 2003, Pharos, a tenth-generation offspring of Susan, was put down after being mauled by
Princess Anne
Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of K ...
's
English bull terrier, Dottie. Anne arrived at
Sandringham Sandringham can refer to:
Places
* Sandringham, New South Wales, Australia
* Sandringham, Queensland, Australia
* Sandringham, Victoria, Australia
**Sandringham railway line
**Sandringham railway station
**Electoral district of Sandringham
* Sand ...
to visit her mother for Christmas and the corgis rushed out of the front door as they arrived. It was reported that "Dottie went for Pharos, savaging the corgi's hind legs and breaking one in three places."
Influence
The royal corgis are known all across the world and are closely associated with the Queen. The corgis have had numerous items dedicated to them, in particular being the subject of many statues and works of art. Because of the Queen's fondness for the Welsh Corgi, an increased number of corgis were exhibited in the 1954 West Australian Canine Association's Royal Show.
Queen Elizabeth II's crown coin KM# 1135, made of copper nickel of size 33 mm, issued during her
Golden Jubilee year, shows the Queen with a corgi.
Cartoonist
Carl Giles
Ronald "Carl" Giles OBE (29 September 1916 – 27 August 1995), often referred to simply as Giles, was a cartoonist who worked for the British newspaper the '' Daily Express''.
His cartoon style was a single topical highly detailed panel, usu ...
included the corgis in every cartoon he drew of the Queen after 1962.
The pets are the subject of an animated comedy film by Belgian studio
NWave Pictures
nWave Pictures is an animation studio based in Brussels, Belgium with an office in Los Angeles, California.
History
nWave Pictures was founded on 28 October 1994 by Ben Stassen.
In September 2018, Matthieu Zeller's production group MZM acquired ...
, called ''
The Queen's Corgi
''The Queen's Corgi'' is a 2019 English-language Belgian computer-animated comedy film produced by nWave Pictures. The film was directed by Ben Stassen and Vincent Kesteloot and written by John R. Smith and Rob Sprackling. Inspired by Queen Eliz ...
'', which was released in the UK in July 2019.
In the
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...
short "One Man Band",
released in 2015, Queen Elizabeth II herself is portrayed as an anthropomorphic corgi.
See also
*
Horses of Elizabeth II
*
Queen Victoria's pets
Queen Victoria and her close family kept numerous pet animals, including:
* Fatima – a Pug
* Alma – a Shetland pony given by King Victor Emmanuel
* Dandie – a Skye terrier
* Dash – a Cavalier King Charles spaniel
* Eos – a greyhoun ...
*
Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caes ...
-
King Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...
's pet
* ''
The Queen's Corgi
''The Queen's Corgi'' is a 2019 English-language Belgian computer-animated comedy film produced by nWave Pictures. The film was directed by Ben Stassen and Vincent Kesteloot and written by John R. Smith and Rob Sprackling. Inspired by Queen Eliz ...
''
*
List of individual dogs
This is a list of individual famous actual dogs; for famous dogs from fiction, see List of fictional dogs.
Actors
Advertising
* Axelrod, Basset Hound, appeared in commercials and print ads for Flying "A" Service Station advertisements in ...
References
External links
Corgis: How the Queen fell in love and started a phenomenonAll of Queen Elizabeth's corgis through the years
{{Elizabeth II, state=collapsed
Elizabeth II
Pets of the British Royal Family
Dogs in the United Kingdom