The Duchess of York has revealed that the late Queen Elizabeth II’s corgis were unimpressed when was unable to take them for walks following her breast cancer operation.
Sarah Ferguson underwent an eight-hour single mastectomy about three weeks ago after a routine mammogram revealed she had an early form of the disease.
She said she has been recuperating this week by watching the tennis at Wimbledon from home.
After the Queen died, Sarah adopted her two corgis, Muick and Sandy, taking her total number of dogs to seven.
“They’re corgis – they’re used to people coming in and taking them for walks. So they look at me going ‘And your point is what? You’ve got your feet up, watching Wimbledon’…” she said in the latest episode of her Tea Talks podcast.
“I did hear today that I’m allowed to do more walking so they might be happy with me now.”
She revealed: “Having seven dogs, they don’t understand that perhaps I’m not as mobile as I was. So they’re going ‘Hello. Come on. It’s all about me’.”
The duchess also talked about her ex-husband the Duke of York’s grief for his mother and father, the late Queen and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and how he is “lonely” without them.
She said that on Wednesday (12 July) the pair took the dogs to where the Queen would have walked them at Windsor – a woodland walk made especially for the monarch – at this time of year before she left for her annual break at Balmoral.
“It was very moving actually. At one stage we both, Andrew and I, just sat quietly under some really beautiful trees and I asked him if he was all right without his mum and dad.
“He said it’s lonely. He thinks about it a lot.”
Sarah said the late Queen would have “absolutely” supported her following her breast cancer diagnosis.
“She was more my mother than my own mother. She went through all her trials and the show went on, even on the day before she died,” she said.
The duchess said she is grateful for her mastectomy operation.
“It’s with me every day and I’m really grateful because it keeps reminding me to do what I wish to do.”
She added: “Every time, I think to myself ‘Oh my goodness, this is kind of wonderful. Soon I might be able to wear a dress without a bra’. That’s a first.”
