Muick, Sandy, Candy and Lizzie. No, they are not the names of the four children of Elizabeth II, but the names of her dogs. The recently deceased Queen’s love for animals was one of the most recognized facets of the monarch throughout her life – the corgi breed, in particular, was permanently associated with her figure. Now, on the occasion of her death, one of the questions on the minds of fans of the royal family is the fate of the Queen’s dogs.

According to Newsweek, Elizabeth II currently has four dogs: two corgis, Muick and Sandy; Candy, a dorgi (a cross between a corgi and a dachsund); and Lissy, a cocker spaniel. Ingrid Stewart, a biographer of the British royal family, says that although there has been no official announcement yet, the dogs are expected to stay with the family, possibly with the monarch’s children.

I imagine that the dogs are taken care of by the family, probably the [Príncipe] André, who was the one who offered them. The corgi and the dorgi are still very young,” he said.

Another biographer, Penny Junor, admits to a scenario where the animals could be left in the hands of royal staff, who would otherwise be an integral part of their care. “The care of the dogs sometimes falls to the servants, but mainly to the Queen’s trusted seamstress and assistant, Angela Kelly; and Paul Whybrew, the right-hand man she was seen walking with the Queen and the dogs in the James Bond parody [nos Jogos Olímpicos de Londres, em 2012]”, the author wrote in 2018, in the book All The Queen’s Corgis. “They both like dogs, they have access to the Queen and they say they are very close to her,” he concludes.

The Dorgi, a race created by the Queen

Elizabeth II’s passion for dogs was one of her hallmarks. The first corgi, a female named Sue, was given to her at the age of 18, and since then it is estimated that the Queen has had more than 30 of these dogs, whose breed has been forever associated with her figure. Most of them will even have been descendants of Sue, who lived until 1959:

The love of this monarch for animals even led to the creation of a new breed of dog: the dorgi. This is a cross between a corgi and a daschund, better known as a dachshund, and it happened when one of Elizabeth II’s dogs mated with Pipkin, the dog of her sister, Princess Margaret.

The cross proved popular with the royal family, who continued to breed this hybrid breed. Candy, one of the dogs she currently had, was, precisely, a dorgi.

Animal husbandry has been one of the Queen’s favorite pastimes for over 50 years. A hobby of hers that she kept until almost the end of her life, when she decided to stop, for fear that her faithful companions would be orphaned.