Royal Corgis Update: They’re Now Getting Visits From the Queen’s Ghost

I cannot relate to the late Queen Elizabeth II. I have not presided over a massive multi-continent empire. I do not own any cool hats besides my Dallas Mavericks ballcap and a wool beanie I bought that one weekend it snowed in New Hampshire. I do not have dueling offspring, one of whom is accused of heinous crimes. But Elizabeth was also famously a dog mom, and that is the one thing we have in common.

I am also chicana and that’s why I steadfastly believe Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, when she says the queen’s ghost is visiting her dogs.

After the queen died, Ferguson (known across the pond as Fergie) and her ex-husband-but-still-co-habitant, accused sex pest Prince Andrew, inherited the royal corgis, Sandy and Muick.

Sandy and Muick were very close with their (human) mother: When Elizabeth would appear in official-looking garb—like a tiara—the doggies would reportedly “lie mutely on the carpet in a mood of Celtic depression” because they knew they weren’t going anywhere, according to a former aide of hers. But if she came into a room wearing a headscarf, the dogs would be “jumping up and down” because they recognized that that was a dog-wrangling outfit.

Now, Fergie thinks they’re still playing with her in the great outdoors: “I always think that when they bark at nothing, and there’s no squirrels in sight, I believe it’s because the queen is passing by,” she told People this week.

She added that, because the corgis are “national icons…every time they run chasing a squirrel, I panic,” Fergie added. “But they’re total joys.”

That they’re constantly making a break for it tracks: The corgis were famously massively untrained and reportedly used palace carpets for toilets—but sure, they’re probably also lovely, Ferg!

These days, Ferguson said she takes the dogs on walks around the same places in the garden that the queen did. “She would love that her doggies were walking wherever she walked before,” the duchess said.

Snark aside, I find that so endearing. I too want my dogs to be in beautiful places we visited together if they manage to outlive me!! Happy frolicking, Sandy and Muick.