Public follow Queen’s lead and fall in love with corgis

THE Queen was given two corgi puppies to keep her company during lockdown, the latest in a long line of her favourite breed.

But figures indicate Her Majesty was not the only one to welcome the breed into her home during the pandemic.

Ownership of Pembroke Welsh dogs surged 65 per cent last year, Kennel Club figures show.

The Queen has owned more than 30 corgis since she ascended to the throne in 1952. Earlier this year, Prince Andrew reportedly gave her two puppies called Fergus, thought to be a Daschundwelsh corgi mix, and Muick, thought to be a full corgi.

Fergus died a month after the Duke of Edinburgh in May, and Prince Andrew is said to have given her another puppy for her birthday in June.

As a teenager, Her Majesty fell in love with her father’s Pembroke Welsh corgi Dookie and was given her own for her 18th birthday, named Susan, who became so beloved that she even joined Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh on their honeymoon. Since then, the Queen has had more than 30 corgis related to Susan’s puppies, Sugar and Honey, born in 1949.

Susan’s descendant Willow appeared in the sketch filmed for the 2012 London Olympics featuring the Queen and James Bond, played by Daniel Craig.

Monty died that year, Holly in 2016 and Willow in 2018. Susan’s final descendant, Whisper, also died in 2018.

The puppies given to the Queen this year were the first in her reign not to have been descended from Susan.

The Pembroke Welsh was classified as a vulnerable native breed in 2014 because of low birth numbers, with fewer than 300 puppies born that year.

Since the start of the pandemic, more than 1,500 corgi puppies have been registered.

A spokesman for the Kennel Club said: “It is great to see this bold, funny and loyal breed make a resurgence, particularly since the screening of Netflix series The Crown, which coincided with the breed coming off the Kennel Club’s ‘watch list’ in 2017.

“It has continued to climb since then, with a particular surge during the pandemic period.”