Monday, October 15, 2012

Update: This royal dog was a Welsh corgi named Sugar


Regarding the June 9 post "Weekend postcards: Celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II," Magdalena Herman got in touch with me on Facebook with some additional information.

One of the black-and-white postcards featured Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, standing next to what I originally described as an unidentified royal dog.

Magdalena, an expert on all things Elizabeth II, says the dog is a corgi named Sugar.

Sugar's mother was Susan (1944–1959), the Pembroke Corgi1 that Princess Elizabeth received on her 18th birthday.

Susan was the dog that started it all for the then-future queen.2 She has owned more than thirty of Susan's descendants over the decades.

Regarding Sugar, Wikipedia has the following to report:
"Sugar was the nursery pet of Prince Charles and Princess Anne. In 1955, her pups, Whisky and Sherry, were surprise Christmas gifts from the Queen to the Prince and Princess. Pictured with the royal family, the corgi Sugar made the cover of The Australian Women's Weekly on June 10, 1959. Sugar's twin, Honey, belonged to the Queen Mother; Honey took midday runs with Johnny and Pippin, Princess Margaret's corgis, while the Princess lived in Buckingham Palace."

I asked Magdalena how she could tell that this particular dog was Sugar. Was it the dog's specific markings?

She replied: "Well, I know almost everything about The Queen, I love Her Majesty since I was 5, She is my passion, She is all my life."

Indeed, Magdalena has both a blog and a Facebook page dedicated to Elizabeth II:

Major thanks, Magdalena, for taking the time to provide this extra information about one of the Papergreat postcards!

Footnotes
1. In case you were wondering, the Pembroke Welsh Corgi is ranked 11th in Stanley Coren's "The Intelligence of Dogs." The border collie is ranked No. 1 on the scale of dog intelligence and, somehow, the poodle is ranked No. 2.
2. Susan is so important that she has her own Wikipedia page. Elizabeth II's other dogs are discussed on the Queen Elizabeth's corgis page of Wikipedia.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for posting this lovely photo! We own a male Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Jonesie. He can be quite bossy with our children and with Biscuit, our Shetland Sheepdog. Yet he is a loyal companion, who loves car rides with 'Mommy!'

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