Queen Elizabeth dies: Prince Andrew, Sarah Ferguson will care for queen’s corgis

One of the biggest questions surrounding the aftermath of Queen Elizabeth II’s death swirled around the fate of the queen’s beloved corgis.

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Prince Andrew, 62, and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, will take care of Muick and Sandy, the dogs who were given to the queen by the Duke of York in 2021, The Guardian and CNN reported on Sunday.

Elizabeth also reportedly left behind a dorgi (a mix between a corgi and a dachshund) named Candy and a cocker spaniel named Lissy, CNN reported. It is unclear who will look after those two dogs.

However, a spokesperson for the Duke confirmed that the couple will take the two corgis, The Guardian reported. Although the duke and duchess divorced in 1996, they both live at the Royal Lodge at the Windsor estate, according to CNN.

The late Princess Diana once called the queen’s corgis a “moving carpet” because they were always by Elizabeth’s side. With the queen’s state funeral scheduled for Sept. 19, there is speculation as to what role, if any, the corgis will play at Elizabeth’s final service at Westminster Abbey.

“One of the intriguing things people are wondering about at the funeral is whether a corgi is going to be present,” Robert Lacey, royal historian and author of “Majesty: Elizabeth II and the House of Windsor,″ told The Associated Press. “The queen’s best friends were corgis, these short-legged, ill-tempered beasts with a yap that doesn’t appeal to many people in Britain, but was absolutely crucial to the Queen.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, Prince Andrew gave his mother Muick, a corgi, and Fergus, a dorgi, The Guardian reported. When Fergus died in May 2021 -- a month after the death of the queen’s husband, Prince Phillip -- he was replaced with Sandy by the children of the Duke and Duchess of York, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

The gift came in time for the queen’s official 95th birthday.

The queen’s love for corgis began during her childhood when she fell in love with a dog officially known as Rozavel Golden Eagle but was nicknamed Dookie, after Elizabeth’s father -- the future King George VI -- who was the Duke of York, the BBC reported.

Dookie was horribly behaved, according to the news outlet, biting courtiers and visitors.

In 1944, on her 18th birthday, Elizabeth was given a Pembroke Welsh corgi puppy named Susan, according to the BBC. The future queen was so enamored with the dog that she reportedly took her on her honeymoon in 1947, CNN reported. Susan died in 1959.

During her life, the queen owned and bred dozens of corgis. A family tree put together by the BBC showed that 14 generations of corgis descended from Susan. The last one descended from Susan was named Willow, who famously appeared alongside the queen in the James Bond sketch recorded by Elizabeth for the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.

Willow died in 2018, The Guardian reported.

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