LONDON – A Buckingham Palace footman is in the doghouse after officials discovered he was getting Queen Elizabeth’s beloved corgis drunk.

Matthew King, one of the queen’s two personal footmen, was demoted and slapped with a $3,500 pay cut after the pooch-hooch hijinks came to light.

“He was famous for his party trick of pouring booze into the corgis’ food and water,” a source told the Sun newspaper.

“He thought it was really funny and used to call other servants over to see the dogs stagger about when they were a bit tipsy.”

King, whose responsibilities included walking the queen’s pampered pets, is accused of spiking their water with whisky and gin from the royal liquor trolley.

Suspicions were raised after one 14-year-old corgi, Phoenix, died two years ago, and a routine autopsy revealed traces of alcohol in the animal’s blood.

“The dogs certainly developed a liking for the booze,” an insider said. “They were very eager to lap it up.”

King, 28, apparently played bartender to the short-legged dogs – corgis Pharos Kelpe, Swift and Emma and corgi-dachshund cross-breeds Harris, Brandy, Cider and Berry – only when the queen was away.

“He thought it was all a bit of fun which didn’t do the dogs any harm. But the powers-that-be were not amused,” the source said.

Palace bigwigs called King on the carpet and knocked him down a rank, the newspaper reported. One servant said he’s “lucky he wasn’t sacked.”