Queen Elizabeth's dogs are expectedly pampered like royals. However, a former chef at Buckingham Palace recently shared just how much royal treatment her Corgis receive from the royal staff.
According to Darren McGrady, who worked as a royal chef for 15 years, Queen Elizabeth's Corgis are definitely treated with special care. McGrady said that his first job as a chef in Buckingham Palace was to prepare the meals for the dogs, who had their own menu.
McGrady also revealed that the dogs had their own room in Buckingham, which had little wicker baskets for them to rest on. There were two footmen assigned to tend to the dogs and they were referred to as Doggie 1 and Doggie 2.
As for the menu, the dogs were often served an elaborate meal of rabbit, liver, beef, rice, chicken, cabbage and rice. McGrady said that the Corgis are not given dog bones to ensure that they will not choke or have digestive problems, or else the staff would be in trouble.
Queen Elizabeth often feeds the dog herself if she is around. The dog's footmen are also on hand to help the royal.
McGrady recalled that the Queen had 12 Corgis one time when the chef was still working at the palace. Prince William and Prince Harry weren't fond of the dogs because Corgis bark a lot and run as a pack that it could be scary to see them.
One time, while the Queen was staying at her country home in Sandringham, her dogs would be all over the kitchen. McGrady had some encounters with food-stealing Corgis who often make their way into his working space.
Today, however, the Queen has only two dogs -- Vulcan and Candy -- who are a crossbreed of Corgis and Dachshunds. The Queen stopped breeding full-bred Corgis after her last full-bred, Willow, died in 2018. Willow has been a descendant of the Queen's very first Corgi named Susan, which was a gift from her father in the 1940s.
According to reports, Her Majesty didn't want to have new or younger dogs because she worries about who will take care of them once she passes away. The Queen had at least 30 different Corgis since she was a little girl.
Meanwhile, the Queen's Corgis also receive regular training from Dr. Roger Mugford, an animal psychologist. He helped Chipper, one of the Queen's old dogs, recover from anxiety, as he was causing problems in the pack.
