The Queen And Her Corgis

Noisy, with fox faces, upright ears and stumpy tails, corgis have been her constant companions since Queen Elizabeth II was a child, writes Penny Junor in her new book about the royal canines. Some were known for ankle nipping, but all were dogged comforters when a Palace guest was lost for words.

When historians look back over the long reign of Queen Elizabeth II, they will marvel, not that she had so many dogs… but at her loyalty to a single breed. Since the age of seven, Elizabeth has not been without the companionship of a Pembroke Welsh corgi. In April 2018, she lost Willow, the last of her own corgis. She was said to have been hit “extremely hard” by the dog’s death. As a Palace source was quoted saying, “It is probably because Willow was the last link to her parents and a pastime that goes back to her own childhood.”

Gradually, and intentionally, the Queen has been whittling down the number of dogs she has. She was concerned about what would happen to her dogs when she is no longer around. Her children all have dogs of their own and, with the possible exception of the Princess Royal [Princess Anne], there are no great lovers of corgis.

Over the years, the Queen’s little dogs have travelled with her by car, boat, helicopter, plane and train; they have announced her arrival in any roomful of people; and they have put countless guests, including the entire New Zealand rugby team, at their ease.

She has used the dogs not just to put others at their ease, but to ease her own discomfort. Her family refers to it as “the dog mechanism”. If there is an awkward lull, she will turn her attention to one of the dogs to fill the silence, or bend down to give them titbits from her plate at the table.

It all began in 1933 when Princess Elizabeth and her little sister, Margaret Rose, fell in love with a neighbour’s young corgi. Their father was then Duke of York, and they lived in a grand, five-storey Georgian town house at 145 Piccadilly.

And so it was that Mrs Thelma Gray came into the Queen’s life. She was one of the first people to breed corgis outside Wales.