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As you’re probably already well aware, Queen Elizabeth II was waaaaay more than your average, run-of-the-mill dog lover. Like, “she bred more than 14 generations of pups” (namely corgis) kind of dog lover. And following her death in September 2022, her two remaining corgis—Muick and Sandy—were taken in by the former Prince Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson. But now that Andrew has been stripped of his royal titles and residence, the question begs: What happens to the Queen’s corgis now?
Tbh, it’s not quite clear. In a statement to The Independent, the Palace confirmed that “the corgis will remain with the family” even after Andrew and Fergie move out of the Royal Lodge at Windsor—but it wasn’t specified whether Andrew, Sarah, or one of their daughters will be giving Muick and Sandy a home.
Looking for more info about the Queen’s beloved dogs? Keep reading for all the royal tea.
Queen Elizabeth II left behind three dogs.
The monarch was outlived by two corgis named Muick and Sandy and a cocker spaniel named Lissy. She also had a corgi-dachshund mix (aka a dorgi) named Candy who passed away in summer 2022, and the loss reportedly left the Queen “distraught” in the final months of her life.
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She previously said she didn’t want to add any more dogs to her family.
…buuuuut it didn’t really end up working out that way. When her dog Whisper died in 2018, it was rumored that the Queen didn’t want to add any more to the family. The reason? She reportedly told her horse-trainer friend Monty Roberts that “she didn’t want to leave any young dog behind.”
However, we know that the monarch wound up welcoming two more dogs to her royal family: Muick and Lissy. When Prince Philip was hospitalized in 2021, she was gifted Muick, who is named after one of her favorite summer retreats, a spot near Balmoral Castle.
As for Lissy? The former Prince Andrew and the Queen’s granddaughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie gifted her to the monarch on what would have been Philip’s 100th birthday in June 2021, according to The Independent.
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She was a dog lover practically all her life.
The House of Windsor welcomed their first corgi in 1933, when Elizabeth’s father, King George VI, brought home a puppy named Dookie for the family. The pup was thought to be named after her father, the Duke of York at the time (I’m sensing a theme here).
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Then, at age 18, the Queen was given her own first corgi, Susan, whom she loved so much that she even smuggled her under a rug in the royal carriage for her honeymoon in 1947. It’s really giving “if they wanted to, they would” vibes, and I, for one, am here for it.
Over the next six decades, the monarch would have more than 30 of Susan’s descendants and gift many of them to family and friends (and obvi keep some for herself). She was so dedicated to her pets that until it became too difficult for her, Queen Elizabeth would walk her pups twice a day, *and* they even had their own room at Buckingham Palace aptly named the Corgi Room, where they were looked after by two footmen called Doggie 1 and Doggie 2. Again, If! They! Wanted! To! They! Would!
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Following the Queen’s death, her two remaining corgis went to Andrew and Fergie, while Lissy the cocker spaniel (whose official name is Wolferton Drama, btw) reportedly stayed with her trainer, Ian Openshaw.
“They are national icons, so every time they run chasing a squirrel, I panic,” Fergie said of Muick and Sandy while chatting with People back in 2023. “But they’re total joys, and I always think that when they bark at nothing, and there’s no squirrels in sight, I believe it’s because the Queen is passing by.”