Four-legged FRIENDS

IF THERE was one thing Her Majesty had a soft spot for, it was four-legged creatures. She loved thoroughbred horses and could talk about breeding and racing for hours on end.

And then there were the corgis. The squat little Welsh pooches with their liquid-brown eyes became synonymous with the queen and rivalled her handbags for the number of times they appeared in pictures with her over the many decades of her extraordinary life.

DOTED-ON DOGS

During the course of her reign, Queen Elizabeth owned more than 30 corgis, as well as dorgis (dachshund/corgi mix), black Labradors and cocker spaniels.

Her love affair with corgis began when she was a child and fell hook, line and sinker for her father’s dog, Dookie, a Pembroke Welsh corgi.

A photo from King George VI’s album shows his then 10-year-old daughter with the dog, which is clearly enjoying the attention she lavishes on him.

Royal aides described how Elizabeth and her sister, Princess Margaret, liked to feed Dookie by hand from a dish held by a footman.

Elizabeth’s parents presented her with her first