Farewell corgis – meet the new dogs ruling the palace
With a different pack of pooches in power, this week we take our lead from a new breed of ruff royals...
It’s the end of a doggy dynasty. The world wept as we saw the Queen’s last two corgis watch Her Majesty’s coffin pass by at Windsor Castle. But now it’s time for a new breed of royals… canines, that is. Kerry, a lifelong dog lover, wrote this article which originally appeared in the Sunday Telegraph.
The Queen’s corgis, Muick and Sandy, are to move from their castle home to the Duke and Duchess of York’s neighbouring house on the Windsor Estate. The Queen also had a dorgi, Candy and had reportedly been heartbroken at her death, shortly before she passed away. She also owned a cocker spaniel, Lissy.
Prince William told a well-wisher the corgis would be OK. “I saw them the other day, that got me quite sad,” he said. “They are going to be looked after fine.”
It’s ruff luck for the corgis, as they watch another pair of dogs make themselves comfortable on the bone, sorry, throne. In a rags-to-riches tale, the new duo are actually rescue dogs – the first to take to the palace.
Prince Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort are bringing their own dogs into power and ending the long line of corgis that went before them. And although Cavalier King Charles Spaniels would seem the likely choice, the new monarch is actually the master of two Jack Russell terriers. Here’s all you need to know:
The King’s terriers: The King and Queen Consort adopted two terriers, Beth and Bluebell, from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, of which Camilla is patron and they have been photographed with them frequently. The Queen Consort told the BBC that Beth, “had just been moved from pillar to post and dumped,” adding they thought it would be nice for her to have a friend. “They found (Bluebell) two or three weeks later, wandering about in woods, no hair on her, covered in sores, virtually dead. And they nursed her back to life and her hair grew again. She’s very sweet, but a tiny bit neurotic, shall we say.”
The couple are both fans of the small and fiery wiry-haired breed. In the 1990s, Charles used to have two Jack Russells called Pooh and Tigger and was devastated when in 1994, Pooh ran off at Balmoral and was never found again. Tigger lived a long life and one of his puppies, Freddie, was owned by Camilla, along with terriers, Tosca and Rosie.
The Queen’s corgis: Her love of the feisty breed began when she and Princess Margaret were given a corgi, Dookie, by their father George VI, when Elizabeth was seven.
On her 18th birthday, she received another corgi, Susan. The Queen even took Susan on honeymoon with Prince Philip, in 1947. When Susan died in 1959, her tombstone read, “For almost 15 years the faithful companion to the Queen.”
The Queen went on to become a prolific breeder of corgis and Susan started a dynasty of her own, lasting until 2009. She’s also credited with starting the dorgi hybrid, after one of her corgis mated with Princess Margaret’s dachshund Pipkin. Alongside Susan, Muick and Sandy, other names the Queen gave her corgis included, Monty, Holly, Emma, Noble, Willow, Candy, Sugar, Foxy, Bushy, Whisky, Sherry, Cider, Tiny, Bisto and Oxo.
The Wales’s cocker spaniels: The Prince and Princess of Wales beloved black English cocker spaniel Lupo, was born in 2011 to Catherine’s parents’ dog. He was so much a part of the family he even appeared in one of the first portraits of Prince George, in 2013 and again, when he was one. When Lupo passed away in 2020, the family was devastated.
Before Lupo died, however, he got a little sister – or rather niece - another cocker spaniel, Orla. She is the puppy of Lupo’s sister Luna, owned by Catherine’s brother, James Middleton.
Wales’s Welsh walkabout
It was back to business as royal mourning for the Queen officially ended this Monday and William and Catherine made their first visit to Wales as the new Prince and Princess of Wales. The couple began Tuesday on Anglesey, the island where they made their first joint appearance 11 years ago and spent three years living until 2013, where the prince worked as RAF search and rescue pilot. They finished the day in Swansea where Catherine got a proper Welsh ‘cwtch’ (cuddle) from two-year-old Charlotte Bunting.
While Charlotte almost stole the show looking adorable in her national costume and Converse combo, we loved Catherine’s red L.K. Bennett coat. The £599 ‘Spencer’ coat was a stylish nod to her late mother-in-law - Lady Diana Spencer before she became Princess of Wales - and, of course, the coat was the perfect colour to wear in the land of the red dragon.
A royally mint Charles
The Royal Mint unveiled King Charles’s official coin effigy on Friday. A new range of £5 coins will go into circulation this October bearing his image. The reverse side will feature two new portraits of the Queen commemorating her life and reign. Other coins, including a 50p, will be circulated before Christmas and will also pay tribute to Her Majesty.
Unlike his mother, Charles does not wear a crown on the coins. The last male monarch who did so was Charles II. Also, our Charles III will face left, as traditionally every new monarch faces the other way from the previous one.
See the Queen’s final resting place
Windsor Castle reopened on Thursday after closing for two weeks following the passing of Queen Elizabeth. Now you can pay your respects to Her Majesty by viewing her final resting place in the George VI Memorial Chapel, where she was interred.
It's also the first chance to see the ledger stone that officially marks her place of rest: reunited with parents George VI, Queen Elizabeth and her beloved husband, Prince Philip and her sister, Princess Margaret (who was cremated and has a separate memorial stone leaning against a wall in the tiny chapel). Buy tickets here.
Poignantly, this week also saw the release of the Queen’s death certificate, confirming that our longest-serving monarch died of old age at 3.10pm on September 8.
The Crown is back!
Finally, a note to self to clear your diaries on Wednesday 9 November because The Crown (season five) will be streaming on Netflix. We were not impressed with the last couple of seasons, but we’re all for second chances. Watch out for our newsletter special on Sunday 6 November. But for now, we’ll leave you this week with the first official photograph of the King, Queen Consort and Prince and Princess of Wales taken on the eve of the Queen’s funeral at Buckingham Palace.
