Aside from her husband Prince Philip, whom she described as her “strength and stay”, the late Queen Elizabeth relied heavily on the support of her beloved corgis behind the scenes of her 70-year reign.
So while the late monarch was an advocate for her frugal approach to food at home, choosing simple dishes and minimising food waste, she had a much more lenient approach to her pampered pooch’s mealtimes.
According to former royal chef Darren McGrady, who cooked for the Queen and Princess Diana for 15 years, Queen Elizabeth even shared her daily afternoon tea with her canine companions.
While addressing the long-standing debate about whether the Cornish or Devon way to serve scones is correct, he penned on Instagram: “Let’s clear this up. When The Queen was hosting afternoon tea (garden parties, charity events) scones were always served halved with @jam first and @roddas clotted cream on top.
“On her own for tea she would never have clotted cream because she fed the scones to her corgis.
“When she was having tea with the family (Prince William etc) jam and clotted cream would be served. Then The Queen (and her family) would break the scone, put some jam and clotted cream onto the side plate and add a little cream and a little jam to each bite size piece.”
Inside the lavish diet of Muick and Sandy
The Queen owned more than 30 corgis in her lifetime, but her final two pets, Muick and Sandy, were a gift from Sarah Ferguson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s daughters.
Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie reportedly gave their beloved grandmother the pets after Prince Philip was hospitalised in early 2021, and they remained in the family following the Queen’s death, with Andrew relocating to Sandringham with them earlier this year.
Wherever they are living, the royal pooches eat a fresh diet prepared by a chef, including beef, corn-fed chicken, lamb and rabbit.
Darren even told HELLO! that their own menus were “chosen and sent to the kitchen every month by Mrs Fenncick, who took care of all the dogs at Sandringham”.
He explained: “The beef would come in, we would cook it, dice it into really fine pieces and then we did the same with the chicken. We’d poach them, and again chop them really, really small to make sure there were no bones so the dogs wouldn’t choke.
© Twitter/X“Some days some of the dogs were – shall we say for a better word – a little bunged-up, so we’d have to add cabbage on the menu, and then other days we’d actually put rice in there for the other way.”
Other perks the Queen’s corgis enjoyed
© GettyAside from an impressive diet, Her Majesty’s spoiled pets also have a luxurious bedtime routine.
In his memoir, Spare, the Duke of Sussex revealed that the dogs would happily join the Queen in her private lift up to her bedroom on a nightly basis.
He wrote: “In the heart of this main chamber was the grand staircase. Sweeping, dramatic, seldom used. Whenever Granny headed up to her bedroom on the second floor, corgis at her heels, she preferred the lift. The corgis preferred it too.”
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