Ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth and her corgi Dookie at 145 Piccadilly, her childhood home in London, 1936. By Lisa Sheridan/Studio Lisa/Getty Images.
The Queen has kept corgis even longer than she has known her husband of 69 years, Prince Philip. In 1933, her parents, the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (later known as the Queen Mum), acquired the royal family’s first corgi, named Dookie. On her 18th birthday, in 1944, Princess Elizabeth received a corgi of her own, named Susan, who tagged along on her honeymoon, three years later.
There is a delightful slideshow and more corgi history at
Vanity Fair. I was quite surprised to learn that nobody else inherited her love for this breed. Others find them annoying to say the least.