by Sarah, Duchess of York, has described how one of the late Queen's corgis she adopted after the monarch's death mourned his owner.
He revealed it took the dog called Muick around a year to come to terms with the death of Elizabeth II when he spoke to Graeme Hall, presenter of Channel 5's Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly.
The former royal co-hosted and hosted ITV1's This Morning and quizzed Hall about her pet's behavior when he appeared with her to talk about rehoming dogs.
The Duchess, who adopted two of the late Queen's corgis with ex-husband the Duke of York, said: “There are two corgis that came, big Mewick and Sandy, and there were five Norfolk terriers that were there too – seven in total .
“And big Muick is very, very, very demonstrative, he had his tail down at the beginning and then now, a year later … he's just now starting to really enjoy (himself).”
A few weeks ago, Sarah shared a photo of herself crouching at the edge of a field with Sandy and Mewick, gifts from the Queen's son Andrew, as she marked the anniversary of Elizabeth II's death.
The Duchess already has a number of other pets.
Hall said of the corgis: “So let's talk about how they settled in, because it's a big deal for them. You lose the person you were with – mom. And then you're in a different place. So you pretty much have two problems at once.
“There is a kind of grieving process, and we know that dogs go through a grieving process as well. We don't fully understand it because we can't talk to them over a cup of coffee, but you definitely see their behavior change, sometimes they are very spontaneous.”
Sarah went on to comment on how Muick required extra attention: “He just puts himself in the way, so when I go to pet a dog he goes straight into the road.”
The dog expert advised the Duchess to firmly say “no” to the dog if it tries to get between her and another pet, then praise it if it complies.
The duchess said of her pets: “Everything goes up, you just have to be careful. And they all have their own characters and watch out for their characters.”
During the show, Sarah's first order of business was going through newspaper stories with her co-hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary and guest Gyles Brandreth, and the conversation turned to I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
Asked if she had been approached to appear on the programme, the duchess replied: “Every year.”
But when asked by O'Leary what Christmas dinners were like when the Queen hosted her family at Sandringham, she replied: “Beans on toast – Gyles, to you.”
