The famous corgis of Elizabeth II at the heart of an exhibition in London

(LONDON) Six months after the death of Elizabeth II, an exhibition dedicated to the monarch’s corgis opens in London on Wednesday, revealing photographs of the Queen with her beloved dogs.

The exhibit at the Wallace Collection, titled ‘The Queen and Her Corgis’, features nine photographs taken throughout Elizabeth II’s life, each capturing a different time period and her unique bond with her animals.

“It’s a very small, but truly wonderful exhibition that shows nine photographs of the Queen and her corgis and retraces her life every ten years,” the curator of the exhibition told AFP enthusiastically. exhibition, Xavier Bray.

Small dogs with pointed ears and long backs are inseparable from the image of Elizabeth II. The queen raised about thirty of them over generations, with a preference for the Pembroke breed, but also created the “dorgi”, a cross between the corgi and the dachshund.

The photographs, chosen from a set of more than 5,000 images, range from informal snapshots to more orchestrated portraits. The oldest image in the collection dates from July 1936 and shows 10-year-old Princess Elizabeth playing with two of her corgis, Jane and Dookie, in London.

“You see the Queen, but from a very different perspective, through this extraordinary relationship she had with her corgis,” Mr Bray said.

One of the images on display was taken on September 19, 2022. On the steps of Windsor Castle, Muick and Sandy waited, escorted by two guards, as the funeral procession set out from London after the monarch’s grand funeral to ascend the Long Walk (“Long Walk”) to the castle, where Elizabeth II was then buried privately.

Forever associated with the queen, the two corgis were adopted by Andrew, the youngest son of the sovereign who died on September 8 at the age of 96.