LONDON – It's difficult to imagine Queen Elizabeth II without picturing her alongside her four-legged, pointy-eared sidekicks.
Ever since her dad introduced corgis to the Royal Family in 1933 (when he brought a dog called Dookie back to the palace), the smiley little critters have had a strong association with Her Majesty and Co.
We've put together some essential Queen-and-corgi-related facts (everything from drunk corgis to "dorgis") to give you a deeper insight into Liz's favourite pets...
1. The Queen has owned over 30 corgis during her reign
As you can see, that's a whole lot of corgis. The Queen's first pet, Susan, was given to her for her 18th birthday, and there have been dogs in the family ever since. Her current corgis are called Holly and Willow.
2. The Queen brought "dorgis" into the spotlight
Okay, so the dorgi doesn't actually look anything like the deeply disturbing mashup we've created above – it's actually a cute cross between a daschund and a corgi that the Queen introduced when Princess Margaret's daschund Pipkin mated with one of her dogs (as well as Holly and Willow, the Queen currently owns two dorgis known as Candy and Vulcan).
3. They often fly with her
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The clip above is worth watching a good few times – partly for the skilful way the light-haired corgi dodges around the guy in the suit, and partly because it's just so damn cute.
4. Some say they're fed a pretty impressive diet
According to Pets by Royal Appointment: The Royal Family and their Animals, the Queen's corgis have been known to enjoy fillet steak dinners specially prepared by a palace chef.
5. A footman once got in trouble for getting the corgis tipsy
In 1999, one of the Queen's footmen was demoted for allegedly sneaking whisky and gin into the corgis' water.
6. They enjoy a good photobomb
Corgis like photobombing almost as much as Her Majesty does.
7. They've shared the screen with James Bond
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As part of the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony, the corgis took to the big screen alongside Her Madge and none other than Daniel Craig himself (and many people thought they stole the show).
Basically, corgis rule.