The Queen’s devotion to her dogs was brought into global focus in a 30 second light drone display of a Corgi chasing a bone above Buckingham Palace at the weekend.
Crowds gasped and cheered and social media was flooded with images of the giant dog.
And there is little doubt the queen will have thrilled to the sight too, having had 30 Corgis down the years, each one allowed to wander freely in the royal apartments before going to bed in specially made raised wicker baskets in a room near the royal apartments.
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But like all of us who love dogs, the queen knows too that loving dogs also brings deep losses from watching them age so fast and of course the final goodbye.
And she has special places to lay her dogs to resting palace grounds, some in Scotland and most at the animal cemetery at Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
A stone boundary wall inset with plaques separates the pet cemetery from the rest of the estate and dogs of many breeds are honoured with details of their life and their passing.
One commemorates the life of Sandringham Slipper - a black Labrador who died in 1980 after eight years as part of the royal family.
Sandringham Brae, another black Lab, is described as ‘a gentleman amongst dogs’ on his grave, while roan Cocker Spaniel Sandringham Fern is remembered for being a ‘tireless worker and mischievous character’.
But under a huge tree sit other little headstones, dedicated to the Queen’s Corgis, her first love Susan who the queen was given on her 18th birthday in 1944. Susan lived until she was almost 15 and died in 1959, 12 years into the marriage of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
Another marks the life of Sugar who lived more than 16 years. And then Corgi Heather is remembered as the faithful companion of the queen following her death in 1977, the Silver Jubilee year, aged 15. She is remembered as the great granddaughter of Susan.
The graveyard was first used by Queen Victoria when her Collie, Noble, died in 1887. Queen Elizabeth started using it for the graves of her corgis 72 years later after the passing of her first Corgi, Susan, in 1959 and she has used the space to bury the Corgis that have passed since.
The most recent death in the Queen’s menagerie is that of 13-year-old Monty, who starred with Her Majesty in the James Bond sketch for the Olympics opening ceremony. However, he was laid to rest at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where he died.
Patrick O’Mahony, the company director of Skymagic who led the light display that brought the Platinum Jubilee celebrations to a close, said: “The corgi and the stamp were two of the playful elements we had from the start and everything else grew from around that.
“Seeing it in that situation for the first time the moment it lit up in front of the palace — being broadcast globally and with a live audience under the threat of rain — it was an intense eight minutes, that’s for sure.”
Patrick, 40, said his team had a “positive back and forth” with Buckingham Palace while devising the show and had creative freedom from the start.
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He added: “It was important to strike a balance between the quite humorous and joyful first half of the show and then having a more serious tone, showing respect for the Queen.”
The display, which also included images of a handbag, a horse and two soldiers, was plotted using 3D computer modelling and then incorporated in flight files, which is the data used to operate the drones.
