AS WE CELEBRATE NATIONAL DOG DAY A LOOK BACK AT THE ROYAL FAMILY'S BELOVED CANINE COMPANIONS

When Princess Elizabeth – later to become Queen Elizabeth II – set off for her honeymoon in 1947, she and her new husband Prince Philip were not alone.

- TRACY SCHAVERIEN

Hidden under a blanket in the open-top carriage taking the newlyweds to London’s Waterloo Station was her beloved corgi Susan, who had also secretly accompanied her mistress to her wedding at Westminster Abbey.

Susan had been an 18th-birthday present from the Princess’s parents, George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and Elizabeth II would remain devoted to her – and generations of her descendants – throughout her life.

Since the Queen’s death in 2022 her corgis, Muick and Sandy, have been cared for by the Duke of York and his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, who told HELLO! last year: “The corgis are very nice and very polite and well trained. I love everything about them. It is the biggest honour to have them with us. The Queen loved dogs – she was a horse whisperer and a dog whisperer.”

SPECIAL BOND

Elizabeth certainly wasn’t the only royal to share a special bond with her four-legged friends. Ever since Queen Victoria started breeding dogs in the early days of her reign – building the royal kennels in Windsor Home Park and showing her six Pomeranians at the first Crufts show in 1891 – the family tradition has endured down through the generations.

And as we celebrate our canine companions on this week’s National Dog Day, 26 August, the royal family’s devotion to their pets remains as strong as ever.