In this week’s Country Life magazine—a 370-page special-issue tribute to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee—it’s revealed that the Queen has a Lab named Gryffindor from a litter of Harry Potter–themed puppies, among other choice animalia facts. Tom Sykes rounds up some good ones from the issue, including:

The Queen is president of several pigeon-racing societies and regularly visits the royal loft at Sandringham . . . a royal pigeon won a Dickin [M]edal for its role in reporting a lost air-craft in the Second World War.

The Queen still owns all the sturgeons, whales and dolphins in UK waters.

The Queen often receives animals as gifts, including sloths from Brazil, black beavers from Canada, a canary from Germany, giant turtles from the Seychelles and an elephant called Jumbo from the Cameroon. The animals are given to London Zoo.

and our favorite:

When the Queen is being fitted for a dress, she carries a special magnet to pick up the pins to save the corgis [from] pricking their paws.

For those not familiar with Country Life, a publication deeply cherished by your Royal Watchers for its glossy, castle-heavy real-estate listings and classifieds for Botswanan safaris, this week’s table of contents is as follows:

The Queen

The Queen’s Horses

The Queen’s style

The Queen’s diamonds

Jubilee recipes

Over £500m of property for sale

Get thee to a Hudson News! Meanwhile, if you’d like to see what’s ahead for the crux of the Diamond Jubilee weekend, the BBC has a round-up of all the main events, starting with the royal family’s outing to the Epsom Derby on June 2, and continuing with the Thames parade, carriage rides, concerts, and heaps of festivities taking place thereafter. Check back to vf.com/royals for continuing, hat-centric coverage.