Queen Elizabeth II’s staff lined the street outside Buckingham Palace to say goodbye to the monarch after her funeral, and it wasn’t just the humans of the royal household who were seen during Monday’s ceremonies. The Queen’s corgis and one of her ponies were driven to witness the procession at Windsor.
The Queen’s dogs, Muick and Sandy, who are Pembroke Welsh Corgis, waited in the quadrangle at Windsor Castle as the funeral cortege arrived while they were looked after by two members of staff.
Royal corgis await the courtship. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters
At the time of her death, the Queen also had two other dogs: a dorgi named Candy and Lissy, the cocker spaniel. Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson have been confirmed to look after the corgis. Andrew was later seen in the company of the dogs.
The Queen was first given a corgi when she was seven, and generations of royal corgis descend from Susan, a corgi given to her when she was 18.
Also on display was the Queen’s Fell pony, Carltonlima Emma, who was led to the side of the road in a gap between floral tributes as the coffin passed.
Emma, the Queen’s Fell pony, stands up as the coffin arrives at Windsor Castle. Photo: Aaron Chown/PA
Commonly known as Emma, the horse was named among the Queen’s favorites for Horse & Hound magazine in 2020 by Terry Pendry, one of Windsor’s groomsmen. The Queen was a patron of the Fell Pony Society and continued to ride Emma well into her 90s.
The pony was wearing one of the monarch’s handkerchiefs. Photo: Aaron Chown/AP
Animals did not play as prominent a role as in some past royal funerals. Heads of state were reportedly somewhat surprised at the funeral of King Edward VII in 1910 to find themselves behind the monarch’s dog Caesar, a wire fox terrier, in the formal procession.
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Caesar is included in a sculpture of Edward VII and his queen above his tomb in St George’s Chapel, where Queen Elizabeth II was handed over on Monday.