Queen Elizabeth Had an Unconventional Way to Get Her 'Temperamental' Corgis to Be Quiet, Royal Author Says
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10/24/2024 01:33 PM
The monarch had many "unpredictable" dogs throughout her life, and Craig Brown writes in a new book that they were "one minute cuddly, the next psycho"
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Queen Elizabeth smiles radiantly during a picture-taking session in the salon at Sandringham House as her pet dog looks up at herIt's no secret that Queen Elizabeth loved her corgis — but now, in a new book, we learn her trick for getting her dogs to quiet down.
In his new book Q: A Voyage Around the Queen, author Craig Brown speaks to the late monarch's relationship with her corgis and dorgis — a Dachshund/Corgi mix the Queen also preferred. Unfortunately, her method of getting the pups to — in the book's words — "shut up" is not a trick accessible to most: she employed the use of bagpipes to get her canine bunch to settle down.
"Coincidentally, the way to scare off a belligerent corgi is the same as for a belligerent human being: a blast from the bagpipes," Brown wrote. "Happily, the Queen always kept a set of bagpipes at hand."
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Queen Elizabeth with two of her corgis on the grounds of Windsor CastleHer late Majesty also kept a bagpipe player, Jim Motherwell, on hand in the 1990s, and in Brown's book he quoted the musician speaking to fellow royal biographer Penny Junor as saying that "the pitch of the pipes seem to hurt most dogs' ears."
As the bagpipes play, "most corgis stop whatever they are doing and slink away, as though in pain," Motherwell continued.
In the book, Brown wrote of a time when Queen Elizabeth invited former U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown to Balmoral, the beloved royal family retreat in Scotland where the Queen ultimately died at age 96 on Sept. 8, 2022. When Brown and his family were at Balmoral, the Queen "was surrounded by her corgis, and the boys were delighted and shocked in equal measure when she told one of her dogs to 'shut up,' much to the surprise of the minister's kids," Brown wrote.
He added that the monarch's dogs were known to be "an unpredictable, temperamental bunch," and wrote that the Queen's famous corgis often had behavioral issues — and that many people were bitten by them. The corgis and dorgis were "one minute cuddly, the next psycho, the Corleones of the dog world," Brown wrote.
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Queen Elizabeth at Balmoral Castle with one of her corgis on Sept. 29, 1952That said, the unpredictable temperament of Queen Elizabeth's dogs actually offered the monarch a sense of comfort, as they were "rebellious in a way that Queen Elizabeth II could never be," according to Brown. "Their clamor was her refuge, their indifference her comfort."
Queen Elizabeth was famous throughout her life for her love of animals, specifically dogs and horses. She received her first corgi, Susan, as an 18th birthday gift, and her beloved Susan started a long line of corgis and dorgis that the Queen owned throughout her life — 14 generations, to be exact.
Related: You'll Never Believe How Queen Elizabeth's Corgis Are Fed
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Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Princess Anne and Queen Elizabeth (with corgi Sugar asleep at her feet) in the gardens below the East Terrace on the South Front of Windsor Castle in June 1959"A lot of people wonder why she chose the corgi breed," Caroline Perry, author of The Corgi and the Queen, previously told PEOPLE. "People who have corgis will tell you — they're such amazing dogs, but not easy dogs. They're very spirited — some of her corgis did get into scrapes; Susan did get in trouble a couple of times. Even for a very experienced dog handler like the Queen, corgis are not for novice dog owners. The fact that she loved them so much, I think it speaks to the fact that she wasn't able to express her emotions and feelings."
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Members of the Royal Household stand with the Queen's royal Corgis, Muick and Sandy as they await the wait for the funeral cortege on Sept. 19, 2022 in Windsor, EnglandCan't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!
When the Queen died in September 2022, her two remaining dogs, Muick and Sandy, were outside Windsor Castle waiting for her when her coffin arrived for her committal service at Windsor Castle on Sept. 19. The pups are now in the care of her son Prince Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, who told PEOPLE that the corgis are "national icons, so every time they run chasing a squirrel, I panic. But they're total joys, and I always think that when they bark at nothing, and there's no squirrels in sight, I believe it's because the Queen is passing by."
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