Their fate had so far remained unresolved: Queen Elizabeth’s beloved corgis, dogs inseparable from the sovereign who died on Thursday at the age of 96, have finally found a home: with her son Prince Andrew.
A spokeswoman for Prince Andrew, the Queen’s third child, and his ex-wife the Duchess of York Sarah announced on Sunday that they would be caring for Muick and Sandy, the two surviving corgis of the Queen.
Andrew is often presented as “the favorite son” of Elizabeth II, but he stepped back from the monarchy after accusations of sexual assault in the United States, which he ended by paying millions of dollars.
It was already him who had given her these two little puppies a few months apart. Muick and Sandy, the last proud representatives of the Queen’s more than 30 corgis, had brought her a lot of comfort during the pandemic, according to her dresser Angela Kelly.
Muick had joined the family at the beginning of 2021 to brighten up the daily life of the monarch then confined – like the rest of the country – to Windsor, with another puppy named Fergus.
The latter died a few weeks later, at the age of five months, shortly after the death of Prince Philip, husband of the Queen. To replace him, Andrew and his daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, had given Elizabeth II little Sandy on the occasion of his official 95th birthday.
The Queen in 1950
The Queen’s love of these little dogs dates back at least to 1944, when her parents gave her her very first corgi, Susan, from whom most of her subsequent dogs were descended, for her 18th birthday.
Elizabeth II took care of her dogs as much as possible herself, who accompanied her on weekends to Windsor and lived in her private apartments. She fed them whenever her busy schedule allowed and also loved to walk them.
The Queen in 1980
His love for corgis was showcased at his platinum jubilee festivities celebrating his 70-year reign in June with a gathering of 70 corgis at Balmoral and a corgis race at Musselburgh Racecourse.