The death of Queen Elizabeth II has sparked a huge shift for the British royal family. With a new king, Charles III, and several new titles for other family members, including Prince William and his wife Kate who become the Prince and Princess of Wales, there will be plenty of internal movement as the family prepares for life without its longstanding matriarch.
And, the queen’s death will also mean a shift for the family’s furry members. She was known for her lifelong love of dogs — and in particular corgis — and had four in her care at the time of her death.
Buckingham Palace is yet to confirm what will happen to her two corgis, corgi-dachshund cross (known as a dorgi) and cocker spaniel, named Candy, Lissy, Muick and Sandy, but it’s safe to expect they will be rehomed within the extended family or by royal household staff.
However, the king is said to prefer Jack Russell terriers, while William and Kate are already parents to a black cocker spaniel named Orla, so they may not stay with the families of either heirs.
During her life, the queen had more than 30 dogs — many of them corgis. And, while corgis have become closely associated with the royal family as a result, they are not traditional royal pets. In fact, it was a young Elizabeth, along with her sister Margaret, who sparked the association, after they were gifted a puppy named Dookie by King George VI in 1933. Sadly, the queen’s second corgi, Jane, was hit by a car in 1944.
Perhaps her most famous and beloved pet, however, was the corgi given to her on her 18th birthday — a two-month-old puppy named Susan.
Susan features in many early pictures with Elizabeth when she was a young woman, and was the pet by her side when she married Prince Philip, and during the death of her father and her accession to queen. So beloved was Susan, that the queen bred corgis from her lineage for decades.
The queen also owned gun dogs, labradors and cocker spaniels, with the pets living at Sandringham in Norfolk. She was known to enjoy talking them for walks and continued to do so well into her nineties.
21 photos of royal families from around the world with their pet pooches
![Queen Alexandra', 1901. Portrait of Alexandra of Denmark (1844-1925) with two of her pet dogs. Her husband Edward Albert (1841-1910) became King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and Alexandra became Queen consort on the death of Queen Victoria on 22 January 1901. From "The Illustrated London News Record of the Glorious Reign of Queen Victoria 1837-1901: The Life and Accession of King Edward VII. and the Life of Queen Alexandra". [London, 1901]. Artist Unknown. (Photo by The Print Collector via Getty Images)](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/QK7A5CSCH6O6OT3YNOHQ735FYY.jpg?smart=true&auth=f8aafb9e53ccb3948b3cceff57cce6d4b4f4201378b47f61f0a1bb0333233f4f&width=800&height=1351)
