A Look Back at Queen Elizabeth II’s Lifetime Love for Corgis
You’d be hard pressed to find anything remotely endearing about imperialism, but when Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne of England in 1952, at age 25, there was suddenly a hint of warmth to the monarchy. And, thanks to the Queen’s court-side companions, that lingered on for decades: More than 30 corgis were by her side over the course of her reign, all of which were as loyal you’d expect from descendants of Susan, the corgi who chaperoned the Queen on her honeymoon. (Though like any royal family, they had their fair share of drama themselves; less than a decade after one of them fell victim to a ferocious bull terrier belonging to the Queen’s daughter, Princess Anne, another of the Queen’s corgis reportedly attacked a Norfolk terrier belonging to Princess Beatrice.) Technically, the death of Whisper, Susan’s final descendant, marked the end of their reign in April 2019. Yet all was not lost; Candy, the Queen’s dorgi, aka dachshund-corgi, is still alive and along with three additional dogs (including a cocker spaniel named Lissy) kept the Queen company during her final years. Here, a visual appreciation of the Queen’s companions over the decades—including her very first (and far from regally named) corgi Dookie.
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Queen Elizabeth II with two corgis at her home at 145 Piccadilly, London, 1936.
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Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret at the windows of Y Bwthyn Bach, aka the Welsh House, a miniature house presented to them by the people of Wales, built in the grounds of the Royal Lodge, Windsor, 1936
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Queen Elizabeth II with her dogs in her study, 1972.
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Queen Elizabeth II with the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, and one of the family’s corgis at a railway station, circa 1935.
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Queen Elizabeth II arrives at King’s Cross railway station in London with her corgis after holidays in Balmoral Castle in Scotland and before welcoming the astronauts of Apollo 11 who walked on the moon to Buckingham Palace, 1969.
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Queen Elizabeth II sitting on a garden seat with two corgis at her home on 145 Piccadilly, London, 1936.
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Princess Margaret and Queen Elizabeth II with gardening equipment and a pet corgi on a terrace of the Royal Lodge, Windsor, 1940.
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Queen Elizabeth ll arriving to the Aberdeen Airport with her corgis to start her holidays in Balmoral, Scotland, 1974.
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Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret sitting on the grass in the grounds of the Royal Lodge, Windsor, stroking a corgi, 1936.
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Queen Elizabeth II with her corgi Sue at Windsor Castle, 1944.
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Queen Elizabeth II walking the Cross Country course with some of her corgis during the second day of the Windsor Horse Trials, 1980.
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Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret studying whilst a corgi sleeps at their feet in a drawing room at Windsor Castle, Berkshire, 1940.
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Queen Elizabeth II with her dogs at a window of Y Bwthyn Bach, aka the Welsh House, a miniature house presented to her and Princess Margaret by the people of Wales, built in the grounds of the Royal Lodge, Windsor, 1936.
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Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret in a carriage in the grounds of the Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, 1940.
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Queen Elizabeth II relaxes at Sandringham with her corgis, 1980.
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Queen Elizabeth II with two corgis and Princess Anne on the runway of an airport in London, 1969.
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Queen Elizabeth II carrying one of her dogs at Windsor Great Park, England, 1990.
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Queen Elizabeth at Balmoral Castle in Scotland with one of her corgis, 1952.
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Queen Elizabeth II traveling in the back of a car with one of her corgis, circa 1980.
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Queen Elizabeth II hugging Dookie, her first-ever corgi, 1936.
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