His fate was hanging in the balance: The adored corgis of Queen Elizabeth II, dogs inseparable from the sovereign who died on Thursday at the age of 96, finally found a home: that of his son Prince Andrew.
A spokesman for Andrew, Duke of York, confirmed that he and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, who maintain a very good relationship despite their separation, will be the ones to take care of the two corgis, named Muick and Sandy, according to the British press.
(Also read: Queen Elizabeth II: Dozens of Corgi dogs accompanied her reign)
Pets of Queen Elizabeth II
Andrew is sometimes portrayed as the queen’s “favorite son”, but has withdrawn from the monarchy after accusations of sexual assault in the United States, which he ended by paying millions of dollars. It was he who gave his mother the little puppies.
During the confinement due to the covid pandemic, Andrés gave his mother a corgi, Muick, and a dorgi (hybrid between corgi and dachshund) named Fergus, but the latter died in May 2021, shortly after the death of the queen’s husband, Philip of Edinburgh.
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The monarch had named Fergus after her uncle, who died in combat during the First World War, and Muick after one of the lakes at his summer residence in Balmoral, Scotland, where he died last Thursday at the age of 96.
To replace Fergus, the daughters of the Duke and Duchess of York, Beatrice and Eugenia, gave their grandmother another corgi, Sandy, for her 95th birthday.
Elizabeth II’s corgis, which had become one of her universal hallmarks, enjoyed a life of comfort with their former owner: royal chefs carefully prepared their menu, canine psychologists attended to them when problems arose between them, and they had their own stocking at Christmas where they received their gifts.
After her death, many wondered what would happen to Elizabeth’s dogs, although the most widespread hypothesis among experts in the Windsor house was that the care of the dogs would fall to Andrés, who is said to have been her favorite son.
Now, it will be difficult for the animals to enjoy a life as cared for as with their deceased mistress.
(Also: Queen Elizabeth II: 40 facts about the late British monarch)
Elizabeth II’s love for dogs
The sovereign’s passion for corgis dates back to the tender age of seven, when she convinced her father to buy her one. At that time, George, Duke of York, was not even the heir to the Crown and the family lived a quiet and comfortable life in a house in central London.
As the newspaper “The Daily Telegraph” recalls, the family already had several dogs, including Labradors and a spaniel, but Isabel and Margarita had fallen in love with a neighbor’s corgi that seemed much more fun than their own dogs.
The loving father of the two girls was unable to refuse his daughters’ request and in 1933 he commissioned a breeder to take three puppies to his home at 145 Piccadilly in London to keep one.
Most of the more than 30 dogs the deceased owned in her lifetime were the native Pembroke Welsh Corgi.
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Now, the corgi community in the UK feels that they have been left without the great godmother of their animals.
For Kay Hogg, secretary in Scotland for the League of Welsh Corgis, with the death “a part of our world has been lost.”
Speaking to the local agency PA, Hogg recalled that “wherever the queen went, there were always corgis”, a breed that he described as “small dogs with big personalities”.
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Elizabeth II’s devotion to animals may have had something to do with her shyness and rather introverted character, as a cousin of her husband Felipe, Pamela Hicks, recalled.
“The queen is a very private person. She longs to be in a room with no one else. Dogs, horses, her husband… She has few friends, and if she had to choose between dogs, horses and friends, there are no hesitant about what I would pick,” Hicks once said, according to the “Telegraph.”
🐶It is never more urgent to revisit Queen Elizabeth’s corgi family tree. All descendants of Susan, who were given to her for her 18th birthday.
The map is from the BBC. pic.twitter.com/z8uD2PeXo0
— . (@fernandarinas) September 8, 2022
*With information from AFP and EFE
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