A New Statue of Queen Elizabeth II Complete With Corgis Is Unveiled
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One of the things most synonymous with the late Queen Elizabeth was of course her love of corgis. So it is fitting that a permanent memorial to her, unveiled this weekend, depicts her with three of her famous pets.
A new statue of Queen Elizabeth II was unveiled in Rutland, England on Sunday on what would have been her 98th birthday. And to further cement her link with the corgi, several members of the Welsh Corgi League proudly brought their dogs to be part of the 400-strong crowd at the unveiling. The seven-foot bronze statue by Sculptor Hywel Pratley depicts the Queen in state robes. One corgi is at her feet and another two are on the plinth.
According to reports the scupltor told the crowd at the unveiling that the plinth was designed to be sat on and could be a hit with the Instagram generation. "It will make perfect backdrop for pictures and people will be able to reach up and pat a dog or if small enough even sit in it's back,” he is said to have told the crowd.
An engraving on the monument reads, “Queen Elizabeth II, 1926 - 2022. Erected as a tribute to her late Majesty through public subscription by Rutland people.” The statue was commissioned by the Lord Lieutenant of Rutland (the King’s representative in the county) Dr Sarah Furness. The sculptor told the Telegraph newspaper last July that he believed the statue was the first commissioned specifically as a memorial to her after her death. There have been other statues unveiled since her death which were being made beforehand, such as the one that King Charles unveiled in York in November 2022 designed to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee that year.
No member of the royal family was at the unveiling on Sunday. King Charles and Queen Camilla attended church at Crathie Kirk near Balmoral. The King and Princess of Wales are unable to carry out duties as normal due to their cancer treatments, with the Princess of Wales asking for space to recover following major abdominal surgery and while she receives chemotherapy. Prince William is also operating a reduced number of duties to care for his wife and children, meaning that the royal family is thin on the ground when it comes to the number of engagements they can carry out.
Throughout her reign, Queen Elizabeth owned more than 30 corgis. She had them in her household as a young child, but it was corgi Susan, who was an 18th birthday present from her parents that is often described as her first corgi and the dog from whom many of her other pets were descended. Susan accompanied then Princess Elizabeth on her honeymoon, and when she died in 1959, the young Queen had a special gravestone made for her at Sandringham House, Norfolk.
The late Queen owned corgis and cross breed dorgis right up until her death in 2022. When she died, she left corgis Muick and Sandy to Sarah Ferguson who shared a year later that they were “thriving."
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