One grave is in her line of sight from Balmoral windows
plain-speaking American to give this first intimation of the Queen’s sense of her own mortality.
Roberts — after whom the Queen named Monty, one of the corgis that appeared in the James Bond spoof she made with actor Daniel Craig for the London Olympics — was an informal adviser to her on horses and dogs for more than 25 years.
He said that when Monty died in 2012, he offered to find the Queen a replacement puppy. ‘But she didn’t want to have any more young dogs. She didn’t want to leave any young dog behind. I understood we would discuss it further at a later date.
‘Well, we never did, and I have no right to try to force her into continuing to bring on young puppies if she doesn’t want to.’
For now, life for Candy, Vulcan and Whisper will continue as usual. Each day starts with a brisk walk with a footman in the Buckingham Palace gardens and, because of their age, they are relatively easy to handle. The days when former royal butler Paul Burrell, then a Palace page, was knocked unconscious when nine leashed corgis pulled him over on the steps of Sandringham House are long past.
When their mistress is at the Palace, the dogs sleep in raised wicker baskets in a boot room near the royal apartments, through which they are at liberty to wander.
Often the dogs are taken to the Queen’s private sitting room when she is having breakfast, and clamour for scraps, slices of toast and marmalade, fed to them from the table.
Whenever possible, the Queen feeds the corgis herself — their menu includes steak, poached chicken, liver and rabbit.
According to former royal chef Darren McGrady, who spent 11 years in the Palace kitchen, the corgis had a ‘wonderful diet. One day it might be chuck steak, boiled and diced and served with finely chopped boiled cabbage and white rice. The next they’d have poached chicken or liver. Or rabbits shot by William and Harry which we’d clean and cook’. The Queen likes to take them on a daily constitutional which also serves as a kind of meditation. Prince Philip has referred to this as her ‘dog mechanism’ therapy. And she is very hands- on with their personal maintenance, de-fleaing them and administering medicine. Nothing is too much trouble. When she is being fitted for a new dress, the Queen produces a special magnet to pick up pins to ensure the dogs do not prick their paws. No world figure has been as identified with an animal as the Queen has with her corgis.
OVER the years they have brought a warmth to her public image, being photographed at her side receiving statesmen in formal situations, or on a tartan picnic rug with the Royal Family at Balmoral, or being bundled by a flunky up the steps on to a royal plane.
In a life governed by protocol, they are also a simple way to break the ice with strangers. The line may now have ended, but Willow, like each and every one of her corgis, will be remembered.
Reacting to news of Willow’s death yesterday one royal fan, Angela Cox, recalled visiting Sandringham just after the Queen had been there.
In a tweet she said: ‘There was a small posy on each of her dogs’ graves. It made me cry.’