The Queen’s corgis, which have been described as a “moving carpet” preceding her as she walks round her royal residences, have become almost as emblematic of the British crown as their famous owner.



So few will be surprised to learn that Her Majesty likes to treat them like royalty, dispensing succulent dishes of steak, rabbit or chicken from individual menus and served from silver and porcelain borne by a liveried servant.



A stickler for protocol, she employs a rigid pecking order, with each receiving their dishes in order of seniority.



The fascinating secrets of her corgis’ daily dinner ritual is revealed by animal psychologist Dr Roger Mugford in a forthcoming special edition of Town & Country, dedicated to the Queen’s 90th birthday on 21 April. Having worked for the royal household for decades, Mugford has long observed the sovereign and her cherished pets at close quarters.

“At feeding times, each dog had an individually designed menu, including an array of homeopathic and herbal remedies. Their food was served by a butler in an eclectic collection of battered silver and porcelain dishes,” he writes.

“As I watched, the Queen got the corgis to sit in a semi-circle around her, and then fed them one by one, in order of seniority. The others just sat and patiently waited their turn.”



She has owned about 30 of the dogs during her long reign, breeding them from her first, Susan, given to her as an 18th birthday present by her father, George VI, and mother, Queen Elizabeth. They have since become a non-negotiable part of her life, though Prince Philip has been heard to exclaim: “Bloody dogs. Why do you have so many?”



When young princesses, she and sister Margaret, invented the “dorgi”, by cross breeding her corgi, Tiny, with Margaret’s dachshund, Pipkin. At the time, the Kennel Club snootily observed: “The dachshund was evolved to chase badgers down holes, and the corgis to round up cattle. If anyone loses a herd of cattle down a badger hole, then these are just the dogs to get them out.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Princess Elizabeth with her first pet corgi, Susan, at Windsor Castle in 1944. Photograph: Getty

The corgis have featured in portraits, official photographs and on a golden jubilee Royal Mint crown. They have their own Wikipedia page, and the question “What are the names of the Queen’s corgis?” consistently ranks among the top 10 most asked questions on the British monarchy’s official website.



When Monty, 13, died shortly after starring in the James Bond/Daniel Craig sketch of a parachuting Queen during the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, obituaries praised his on-screen tummy roll.



The Queen made a decision to stop breeding her dogs in recent years, so their numbers have declined. She now has just two corgis, Willow and Holly, and two dorgis, Candy and Vulcan.



Mugford told how the monarch showed deep compassion for her pets and was dismayed by any cruelty to animals, and took a dim view of US President Lyndon Johnson, who picked his dogs up by the ears.



“When she’s talking about her dogs or her horses, you see a completely different side to her: she relaxes. Dogs are great levellers, and they’re not influenced by social status, which must be a great relief to her. No wonder she enjoys being around them,” he writes in the spring issue of Town & Country, which goes on sale on Thursday.



Royal staff have been known to take a less indulgent view of the dogs as they frequently tripped over them while forced to roam her palaces and castles armed with blotting paper and a soda siphon to clear up any little accidents. A few have also been on the receiving end of a sharp nip to the ankles.



One footman, in revenge, was once reportedly said to have spiked the dogs’ food with gin and whisky then watched them teetering tipsily around the palace gardens before his crime was discovered and he was dismissed.

