Britain’slongest - serving monarch , Queen Elizabeth , died Sept. 8 , 2022 , at Balmoral Castle at 96 . The world-beater was known for many thing — her duty to country , her free grace under pressure sensation and her colored mob . But she was also well - have it off for love of corgis .
So much so , that at the opening ceremonies of the 2012Olympic Games , tens of thousands of watcher in London Stadium — plus one thousand thousand watching at abode — were treated to aclever video skitstarring the actor Daniel Craig asJames Bond , Her MajestyQueen Elizabeth II , and of course , the Queen ’s best-loved corgi . She have purebred corgi for more than eight decade , and for stretches in the eighties she collected face pack of up to 13 corgis at a clip , most of them bred on the premises at Windsor Castle .
The Queen’s Constant Companions
The belittled , ruddy - haired Welsh corgi breed known as Welsh Pembroke are so closely associated with the Queen that many people think it ’s an prescribed majestic line that goes back hundred .
" That ’s a question we ’re asked a lot , " said Ciara Farrell , librarian and collections coach at the UK Kennel Club , when we spoke to her in 2019 . " Is the corgi a royal dog ? Do they have a long connexion with the royal family ? The reply is no . The Queen have one when she was a unseasoned girl and has been devoted to them ever since . "
The Queen ’s very first Welsh corgi was buy in 1933 by her Church Father , King George VI , when he was still the Duke of York . Elizabeth , then 7 years sometime , and her young sister Margaret named the deep - chestnut tree puppy Dookie and fall for him instantly . Dookie was soon join by a second corgi named Jane .
accord to anin - depth account of the Queen and her corgisin Vanity Fair magazine , the royal family capitalize on those first cuddly corgis to obviate attention from a imperial outrage . A photo book title " Our Princesses and Their Dogs " was released Dec. 11 , 1936 , just daylight before King Edward VIII abdicated the toilet to conjoin the American divorcée Wallace Simpson . The photograph book assured the British subjects that their Modern king , Elizabeth ’s Fatherhood , was n’t a lubber like his sidekick because he had endearing daughters with domestic dog .
Dookie and Jane were the princesses ' close companions grow up until Jane was tragically strike by a car and killed in 1944 . That same year , for her 18th birthday , unseasoned Elizabeth receive the bounder that would set in motion her lifelong fascination with corgis and Welsh corgi breeding . Her name was Susan .
In fostering nomenclature , Susan became what ’s have sex as the " foundation gripe . " Generations of the Queen ’s Welsh corgi have come from Susan ’s line of business , with the Queen often hand - pick the he-man .
Elizabeth and Susan were inseparable from the starting time . When Elizabeth espouse Prince Philip in 1947 , she snuck Susan with her on their honeymoon . And Susan remain by Elizabeth ’s side when her father died in 1952 and Elizabeth became Queen at the geezerhood of 25 . In press photograph from the 1950s , the untried Queen is record with her darling corgi almost more than her married man .
They Sure Can Bark
Susan ’s prominence as the Queen ’s corgi did wonders for the strain ’s popularity .
" It did spark a immense involvement in what up to then had been a niche breed , " sound out Farrell , noting that Kennel Club registrations of purebred Pembroke Welsh Welsh corgi top out in 1960 with 9,000 . " Today , Welsh corgi enrolment are down to about 500 a year . That ’s a great pearl from its heyday . "
As a stock , corgis are know for being spanking , dauntless and highly well-informed . They were originally bred in Wales as " drovers " or kine dogs , where their stocky , low - to - the - flat coat flesh enabled them to nip at the Bos taurus ’s heel to keep them in personal line of credit . The corgi ’s sharp , loud bark also help it seem braggart and more classical than it appears . There are two breeds of corgi : the Pembroke and the Cardigan . The Cardigan is big and longer than the Pembroke , with more rounded ears . Both breeds ordinarily live around 12 old age . " Corgi " is a Welsh parole for " dwarf dog . "
Of of course , not everybody is keen on small , up-and-coming dogs with yippy barks that nip at your heel . That ’s why when somebody comes into the Kennel Club appear for a new pet , Farrell advise them to do some inquiry about what the dog did historically .
" What was their job ? Are those traits going to suit your life-style ? Can you give them the recitation that they need and the quad that they need ? " say Farrell . " If it ’s not the hot dog for you , there ’s lots of other click to choose from . "
The Queen did n’t mind the raucous vim of her corgi . In fact , she breed for it specifically , along with a preference for flushed coats . Her cousin Lady Margaret Rhodes tell Vanity Fair that the Queen loved taking her skylark pack of corgi for long walk in the Scotch countryside near Balmoral Castle , where she would encourage them to tag after rabbits .
" The Queen gets mad with the dogs chasing the rabbits , egging them on,“said the 90 - class - old Rhodes . " tell them to keep going — ' Keep on going ! ' "
While the rest of the royal kin are certainly " doggy " by nature ( Farrell ’s condition ) , they ’re not all huge fan of the Queen ’s corgis .
" I ’ve spend the last 33 years being barked at , " Prince Harrytold the BBCin 2017 . His old crony William said as much in a2012 consultation . " They ’re skin all the time . I do n’t hump how she knock off with it . "
How “The Crown” Helped the Corgi Breed
The strain ’s barkiness and its affiliation with a bypast era in all probability lead to the usurious drop in the Welsh corgi ’s popularity over metre . In 2014 , the situation became dire enough that the Kennel Club put the Pembroke Welsh Welsh corgi on itsvulnerable aboriginal breeds inclination , which forebode attention to breeds with fewer than 300 registrations a year .
But then Netflix unloosen its stumble TV serial publication " The Crown " in 2016 , which aggrandize the life of immature Elizabeth as she marry and becomes Queen , including heaps of picture with her Welsh corgi . Farrell order that corgi registrations increased by 16 per centum in 2017 , and then jumped by 47 percent in 2018 .
" ' The Crown ' has a lot to do with this , " said Farrell . " While the turn are still comparatively low , there has been a light increase in registrations and I think we can ascribe that to the depiction of the Queen and her corgis in popular culture . " In the U.S. , the breed continues to be very popular ; theAmerican Kennel Clubcurrently outrank the Pembroke Welsh corgi at No . 13 out of 193 breeds in terminus of popularity .
In 2002 , the Queen made the difficult decisiveness , be the deaths of both her sister and the Queen Mum that she would contain cover corgis so that none of them would outlive her and be force to grieve her exit . However in 2021 , after the death of her husband Prince Phillip , her son Prince Andrewgifted her with a new corgito keep her other corgi Muick company . She also had a dorgi ( a cross between a Welsh corgi and a dachshund ) and a English cocker spaniel spaniel .
Monty Roberts , who served as a horse and dog - fosterage adviser to the queen , told Vanity Fair how devastate the Queen was after a old corgi , Monty , died in 2012 . At the time , he asked the Queen about spawn a permutation for Monty .
" I have no right to try out to storm her into continuing to convey on young puppy if she does n’t need to . That is n’t my right . But it still concern me,“Roberts said . " Because I desire her to believe in her universe until she ’s no longer here , because she ’s just too important to the earthly concern to mull checking out . For me , the Queen ca n’t fail . "
unhappily , she has .
