State funeral for Queen to be held on Sept 19; India to observe state mourning today
elizabethQueen Elizabeth II of Britain laying a wreath at the Samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat on November 18, 1983. (Express archive photo)
Queen Elizabeth II, the UK’s longest-serving monarch passed away at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on Thursday (September 8). While the plan of action following her death was carefully laid out, there is uncertainty over the fate of her cherished dogs: the famous corgis.
An enduring symbol of her legacy, the corgi breed has come to be associated with Queen Elizabeth’s 70-year-long reign. She had a lifelong love for her pet corgis, who accompanied her during vacations and official events in Buckingham Palace, her honeymoon, and even featured in her official photos and portraits. Fed gourmet meals of rabbit, steak and vegetables made royal chefs, the corgis were even given their own stockings on Chrmas the Queen, filled with toys and doggy treats.
If the British monarchy has survived into the 21st century, that has a lot to do with the manner in which Queen Elizabeth II carried the crown. It was a manner singularly free of the turbulence that surrounded the late Queen’s seven decades on the throne. The basic reason is that from her tutor at Eton who groomed her to become the symbol of her nation, she learned well the dinction that the 19th century British political scient, Walter Bagehot, had drawn between a British monarch’s “dignified” and “efficient” duties. Had she deviated from that dinction and allowed the crown to get caught in a swirl of controversy, it is doubtful that King Charles III would so smoothly be stepping into the succession.
