Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson will look after Queen Elizabeth's beloved corgis following her death.
A spokeswoman for Andrew said he and Sarah, Duchess of York will take on Muick and Sandy – two dogs the late monarch received as gifts from her son.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth owned more than 30 corgis during her reign and was known for her love of the breed.
In early 2021, she was given two new puppies, one dorgi and one corgi, as a gift by Andrew while staying at Windsor during lockdown.
The puppies kept the monarch entertained while the Duke of Edinburgh was in hospital and Buckingham Palace and the royals were dealing with the bitter fallout from Megxit and the Sussexes’ Oprah interview.
The queen named the dorgi Fergus after her uncle who was killed in action during the First World War, and the corgi Muick, pronounced Mick, after Loch Muick on the Balmoral estate.
But the monarch was devastated when five-month-old Fergus died just weeks later, in the aftermath of Philip’s death.
He was later replaced with a new corgi puppy, from Andrew and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie for her official 95th birthday, who the Queen named Sandy.
The puppies were a constant source of joy for the queen during lockdown, her dresser Angela Kelly said.
Andrew, flanked by Beatrice and Eugenie, thanked well-wishers for lining the route back to Balmoral after the royal family attended a prayer service on Saturday.
It was the first time the members of the royal family had been seen together in public since the Queen’s death on Thursday.
Asked by a mourner how things were, Andrew said: “We’ve been allowed one day, now we start the process of handing her on.”
He added: “It’s nice to see you, thank you for coming.”
Meanwhile, Sarah said the Queen was “the most incredible mother-in-law and friend” to her and she would miss her “more than words can express”.
The queen’s love of corgis was celebrated during Platinum Jubilee events, with a gathering of 70 corgis at Balmoral and a “corgi derby” at Musselburgh racecourse.
Most of the queen’s corgis were descended from her first corgi, Susan, who was gifted to her on her 18th birthday in 1944.
The queen looked after her own dogs as much as possible and during weekends spent at Windsor, the corgis went too and lived in her private apartments.
She fed them whenever her busy schedule permitted and also enjoyed walking the dogs.
