ราชินีตกหลุมรัก Corgis ได้อย่างไร

เป็นเรื่องที่ยุติธรรมที่จะบอกว่าราชินีเป็นคนที่คลั่งไคล้คอร์กี้ เธอเป็นเจ้าของคอร์กิสพันธุ์แท้มานานกว่าแปดทศวรรษและสำหรับการเหยียดในช่วงปี 1980 เธอรวบรวมคอร์กิสได้ครั้งละมากถึง 13 ชุดซึ่งส่วนใหญ่ได้รับการเลี้ยงดูในสถานที่ที่ปราสาทวินด์เซอร์

สหายคงที่ของราชินี

สายพันธุ์คอร์กี้ตัวเล็กที่มีผมสีแดงก่ำที่รู้จักกันในชื่อเวลช์เพมโบรกมีความสัมพันธ์ใกล้ชิดกับราชินีมากจนหลายคนคิดว่ามันเป็นสายราชวงศ์อย่างเป็นทางการที่ย้อนกลับไปหลายศตวรรษ

"นั่นเป็นคำถามที่เราถามกันมาก" Ciara Farrell บรรณารักษ์และผู้จัดการคอลเลกชันของ UK Kennel Club กล่าว "คอร์กี้เป็นสุนัขหลวงหรือไม่พวกเขามีความสัมพันธ์กับราชวงศ์มายาวนานหรือไม่คำตอบคือไม่ราชินีมีหนึ่งตัวเมื่อเธอยังเป็นเด็กสาวและอุทิศให้กับพวกมันตั้งแต่นั้นเป็นต้นมา"

The Queen's very first corgi was bought in 1933 by her father, King George VI, when he was still the Duke of York. Elizabeth, then 7 years old, and her younger sister Margaret named the deep-chestnut puppy Dookie and fell for him instantly. Dookie was soon joined by a second corgi named Jane.

According to an in-depth history of the Queen and her corgis in Vanity Fair magazine, the Royal Family capitalized on those first cuddly corgis to deflect attention from a royal scandal. A photo book titled "Our Princesses and Their Dogs" was released Dec. 11, 1936, just days before King Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry the American divorcée Wallace Simpson. The photo book assured the British subjects that their new king, Elizabeth's father, wasn't a lout like his brother because he had adorable daughters with dogs.

Dookie and Jane were the princesses' close companions growing up until Jane was tragically struck by a car and killed in 1944. That same year, for her 18th birthday, young Elizabeth received the dog that would launch her lifelong fascination with corgis and corgi breeding. Her name was Susan.

In breeding terminology, Susan became what's known as the "foundation bitch." Generations of the Queen's corgis have come from Susan's line, with the Queen often hand-picking the studs.

อลิซาเบ ธ และซูซานแยกจากกันไม่ได้ตั้งแต่เริ่มต้น เมื่อเอลิซาเบ ธ แต่งงานกับเจ้าชายฟิลิปในปี 2490 เธอก็แอบจับซูซานไปฮันนีมูนด้วยกัน และซูซานยังคงอยู่เคียงข้างเอลิซาเบ ธ เมื่อพ่อของเธอเสียชีวิตในปี 2495 และเอลิซาเบ ธ กลายเป็นราชินีเมื่ออายุ 25 ปีในรูปถ่ายของสื่อในช่วงทศวรรษที่ 1950 ราชินีหนุ่มแสดงพร้อมกับคอร์กี้อันเป็นที่รักของเธอเกือบจะมากกว่าสามีของเธอ

พวกเขาสามารถเห่าได้แน่นอน

ความโดดเด่นของซูซานในฐานะคอร์กี้ของราชินีสร้างความมหัศจรรย์ให้กับความนิยมของสายพันธุ์นี้

"มันจุดประกายให้เกิดความสนใจอย่างมากในสิ่งที่เป็นอยู่ในปัจจุบัน" ฟาร์เรลล์กล่าวโดยสังเกตว่าการจดทะเบียน Kennel Club ของ Pembroke Welsh corgis พันธุ์แท้พุ่งสูงสุดในปี 1960 ด้วยจำนวน 9,000 ตัว "ทุกวันนี้การลงทะเบียนคอร์กี้ลดลงเหลือประมาณ 500 ปีนั่นถือเป็นการลดลงอย่างมากจากยุครุ่งเรือง"

As a breed, corgis are known for being lively, hardy and highly intelligent. They were originally bred in Wales as "drovers" or cattle dogs, where their compact, low-to-the-ground build enabled them to nip at the cattle's heels to keep them in line. The corgi's sharp, loud bark also helps it seem bigger and more authoritative than it appears. There are two breeds of corgi: the Pembroke and the Cardigan. The Cardigan is larger and longer than the Pembroke, with more rounded ears. Both breeds usually live around 12 years. "Corgi" is a Welsh word for "dwarf dog."

Of course, not everybody is keen on small, energetic dogs with yippy barks that nip at your heels. That's why when somebody comes into the Kennel Club looking for a new pet, Farrell advises them to do some research about what the dog did historically.

"What was their job? Are those traits going to suit your lifestyle? Can you give them the exercise that they need and the space that they need?" says Farrell. "If it's not the dog for you, there's lots of other dogs to choose from."

The Queen doesn't mind the rowdy energy of her corgis. In fact, she bred for it specifically, along with a preference for red coats. Her cousin Lady Margaret Rhoades told Vanity Fair that the Queen loved taking her rollicking pack of corgis for long walks in the Scottish countryside near Balmoral Castle, where she would encourage them to chase after rabbits.

"The Queen gets excited with the dogs chasing the rabbits, egging them on," said the 90-year-old Lady Margaret. "Telling them to keep going — 'Keep on going!'"

While the rest of the Royal Family are certainly "doggy" by nature (Farrell's term), they're not all huge fans of the Queen's corgis.

"I've spent the last 33 years being barked at," Prince Harry told the BBC in 2017. His older brother William said as much in a 2012 interview. "They're barking all the time. I don't know how she copes with it."

How "The Crown" Helped the Corgi Breed

The breed's barkiness and its association with a bygone era likely contributed to the steep drop in the corgi's popularity over time. In 2014, the situation became dire enough that the Kennel Club put the Pembroke Welsh corgi on its vulnerable native breeds list, which calls attention to breeds with fewer than 300 registrations a year.

But then Netflix released its hit TV series "The Crown" in 2016, which dramatizes the life of young Elizabeth as she marries and becomes Queen, including lots of scenes with her corgis. Farrell says that corgi registrations increased by 16 percent in 2017, and then jumped by 47 percent in 2018.

"'The Crown' has a lot to do with this," says Farrell. "While the numbers are still relatively low, there has been a clear increase in registrations and I think we can attribute that to the depiction of the Queen and her corgis in popular culture." In the U.S., the breed continues to be very popular; the American Kennel Club currently ranks the Pembroke Welsh corgi at No. 13 out of 193 breeds in terms of popularity.

Sadly, the Queen bid farewell to the last of her own purebred corgis, Willow, in 2018. She made the difficult decision back in 2002, following the deaths of both her sister and the Queen Mum that she would stop breeding corgis so that none of them would outlive her and be forced to grieve her loss. (She still has two dorgis, which are dachshund-corgi mixes.)

Monty Roberts, who has served as a horse and dog-breeding adviser to the queen, told Vanity Fair how devastated the Queen was after a previous corgi, Monty, died in 2012. At the time, he asked the Queen about breeding a replacement for Monty.

"I have no right to try to force her into continuing to bring on young puppies if she doesn't want to. That isn't my right. But it still concerns me," Roberts said. "Because I want her to believe in her existence until she's no longer here, because she's just too important to the world to contemplate checking out. For me, the Queen can't die."

Now That's Sweet

Farrell says that a lot of older pet owners are forced to make the same difficult choice not to take in a young dog. For working dogs that are bred to have a close relationship with a particular shepherd, the separation can be hard on the animal. "Corgis like their person," says Farrell. "And the Queen is their person."