LONDON — Never easy to lose a pet. Reports from the palace say Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is absolutely gutted by the loss of her beloved corgi Willow, the last in a royal line of loyal, nippy dogs who have kept the monarch company during her entire reign.
The Daily Mail’s correspondent says the 91-year-old queen was hit “extremely hard” by the death of Willow, 14, who died on Sunday — was put down, actually — after suffering a bout of cancer.
For more 80 years, Her Majesty has been surrounded by corgis. There is barely a family portrait that does not include a couple of the tawny red, white-pawed, short-legged pooches under foot.
Elizabeth was mad for Pembroke Welsh corgis ever since she was a little girl. During her long life, the queen has not had just a corgi — she has had a pack of corgis.
Alas, no more.
A Buckingham Palace source told the Daily Mail: “She has mourned every one of her corgis over the years, but she has been more upset about Willow’s death than any of them … It is probably because Willow was the last link to her parents and a pastime that goes back to her own childhood. It really does feel like the end of an era.”
When Elizabeth was a little girl, her father, who would go on to be crowned King George VI, brought home a corgi named Dookie in 1933. Elizabeth was 7; her sister Margaret, 3.
For her 18th birthday, Princess Elizabeth was given a corgi of her own named Susan, who later accompanied Elizabeth on her honeymoon. Susan become what breeders call the “foundation bitch.”
From Susan’s line came hundreds of corgi puppies. Her Majesty has had 30 of them as companions over the years. From the queen’s breeding program at the Kennels of Windsor, hundreds of royal corgis have been whelped. Elizabeth never sold them but instead gave them to family friends.
The British press reports the breeding program quietly ended a couple of years ago. The queen did not want to leave behind dogs for others to care for.
The queen has, quite obviously, loved her pets. She reportedly took pride in feeding them herself — and was often photographed on walks beside them.
