Queen Elizabeth’s Last Corgi Has Died
Queen Elizabeth’s last corgi — Whisper — has sadly passed away, People is reporting. She still owns two dorgis — a cross between a corgi and a dachshund — named Candy and Vulcan, but Whisper was the last purebred corgi in the royal entourage. Whisper was one part of the famous set of corgis that the queen has been spotted walking around with over the years. Whisper reportedly died sometime last week, at Windsor Castle.
Corgis are Queen Elizabeth’s favorite kind of dog, and her love for the breed dates all the way back to 1933. Her father, King George VI, was the one to bring home the family dog, a corgi named Dookie. The family then went on to adopt another corgi, Jane. Jane gave birth to a litter of puppies, and the royal family kept two of the puppies — naming them Crackers and Carol. Queen Elizabeth was given a corgi of her own for her 18th birthday. She named the corgi Susan, and the rest is history — all of the Queen’s many corgis, aside from Whisper, were descendants of Susan! Susan’s line has unfortunately died out with the passing of Willow, a corgi that died this April.
Five years ago, the Queen reportedly said that she did not want to breed anymore corgis due to her age. She was afraid of tripping and falling over the dogs, and worried about who would take care of the dogs once she was no longer able to. Whisper, however, fell into her lap. The Queen adopted him in 2016 after the original owner, Bill Fenwick — who was a former gamekeeper at the Sandringham Estate — passed away. Fenwick’s wife would always watch the Queen’s dogs when she was traveling. The news of Whisper’s death was revealed by journalist Richard Kay, who reported to the Daily Mail that the dog had passed at age 12. According to a source, the Queen was quite fond of Whisper.
“Whisper was a friendly chap and followed her everywhere,” the source said. “The Queen has quickly become very attached to the dog.”
It is not yet known what caused Whisper’s death, but for many of Queen Elizabeth’s corgis, including Willow, cancer was what resulted in their deaths. The death of Whisper — originally spelled Wispa, after the chocolate bar — has reportedly left the Queen deeply saddened. The public is speculating that she may not own any corgis again after this, which would certainly take some getting used to. The Queen’s love of corgis has become so iconic over the years that they began to sell stuffed versions of the animal in the palace shops.
