FILE: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is seen in this 1998 file photo with one of her Corgis. Picture: AP
QUEEN Elizabeth’s beloved corgis will be cared for by the Duke of York and Sarah, the Duchess of York.
On Sunday, a spokesperson for Prince Andrew said he and Sarah would take on the pets, Muick and Sandy. The dogs who were given as a gift to the monarch by the duke during lockdown, to keep her entertained while her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, was in hospital and she was staying in Windsor.
Her Majesty, who died, aged 96, at her home in Balmoral on September 8, owned more than 30 corgis during her lifetime, each descended from her first, Susan, an 18th birthday present from her father, George VI.
A source also revealed the Duke of York would take the dogs into his 30-bedroom Royal Lodge home in Windsor.
An insider was quoted by The Sun as saying: “It's fascinating – Charles is now King, Camilla is Queen Consort, William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales…(Andrew) just gets the dogs.
“At least he's got plenty of time on his hands after stepping back from royal duties.”
In early 2021, the Queen was given two new puppies, one corgi and the other a dorgi, a corgi-dachsund mixed breed.
The monarch named the dorgi Fergus, after an uncle, her mother’s brother, Fergus Bowes-Lyon, who was killed in World War I in 1915.
Muick was named after a favourite spot near Balmoral Castle, where she traditionally spent her summers.
The monarch was left devastated after the five-month-old Fergus died just weeks after she received him, shortly after Prince Philip also died, in April 2021, aged 99.
He was later replaced with a new corgi puppy from Andrew and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie for her 95th birthday. The queen named the puppy Sandy.
Andrew appeared in the public eye on Saturday for the first time since his father’s memorial service in March.
He attended a prayer service for the queen at Crathie Kirk, near Balmoral, alongside other members of the royal family, and thanked mourners for visiting the queen’s home.
In a short speech, he said: “We’ve been allowed one day, now we start the process of handing (the queen) on.
“It’s nice to see you, thank you for coming.”
Andrew stepped down from public life over his friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and after he paid millions of pounds to settle a civil sexual assault case brought against him by one of Epstein’s sex trafficking victims, Virginia Giuffre.
The duke has denied all the allegations against him and has said he has never met Giuffre.