“The queen would approve,” his owner said after the photo session, giving him a snack.
Corgis – lively brown-and-white dogs with pointed ears and short legs – are closely associated with Queen Elizabeth II, who celebrates her Platinum Jubilee this week.
At the “Corgi Cam” popup in London’s historic Leadenhall Market, visitors can take pictures with a rotating team of dogs while dressing up in faux ermine robes, crowns and tiaras.
The 96-year-old queen has kept Pembroke Welsh Corgis since she was 18, and even appeared with her dogs in a spoof “James Bond” clip filmed for the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.
The free event outstripped expectations, with some waiting for several hours to attend, according to organiser Katie Raby.
“Everyone associates the dog with her majesty, and we wanted to be able to celebrate that,” she said.
The breed experienced a rush of interest recently due to the Netflix series “The Crown”, but remains quite rare in the United Kingdom.
“Many people have never actually met a corgi,” Raby said. “There aren’t many around these days.”
The event runs from midday to 6pm, with people getting slots of about five minutes each with a corgi.
“They’re used to doing gigs with members of the public and they’re very used to being fussed over,” Raby added of the dogs.
‘Rare breed’
“We’d just seen this and thought we’d come down,” said Ria Measom, 23, posing with her university friend, Megan Oakley, 24, in a red robe, crown and tiara.
“We’ve been queuing for about two hours,” Measom told AFP, “but it was worth it because they brought the corgis out and we could pet them while we waited.”
“It’s good. I think the queen would like it. She should bring her corgis,” she added, giggling.
“We’d never seen one this close before,” Oakley chimed in. “They’re really soft.”
Another visitor, Zaida Flores, brought along her parents who are visiting from Ecuador, and they sat together with two of the dogs. Flores, 31, wore a tiara on her long, green-tinted hair.
“We like dogs, we’re dog lovers, so it was a really nice experience,” she said.
Emma Warren-Brown, a dog expert, observed the sessions and ensured the animals were happy and healthy.
“It’s so nice to see the public’s reaction to corgis because actually you don’t see many of them around,” she pointed out. “They are what we would call a rare breed.
“We hope their popularity surges. I’d hate to see them die out because, as a breed, that’s what would happen. And, of course, they are synonymous with the queen.”
Queen Elizabeth II stopped raising corgis in her 90s but kept two “dorgis” – dachshund and corgi crosses – to accompany her in her final years.
One, Vulcan, died in 2020. The other, Candy, was joined in March by two new corgi puppies – Muick and Sandy – during the pandemic lockdown.