The Queen has been left "absolutely devastated" after her puppy died just one month after she lost her husband Prince Philip.
Per Metro, the puppy - whose name was Fergus - passed away at the weekend and reportedly left Her Majesty "absolutely devastated" a month after her husband of 73 years passed away on April 9.
Fergus, a five-month-old Dorgi, and another puppy called Muick were given to the Queen, 95, by her son Prince Andrew in the hope that he would help her grieve the loss of Prince Philip.
Dorgis are slightly different from corgis and are a cross between dachshund and corgi breeds.
The puppy's cause of death is not yet known.
A source told The Sun: "The puppies were brought in to cheer her up during a very difficult period. Everyone concerned is upset as this comes so soon after she lost her husband."
The Queen has become synonymous with her corgis, having received her first one when she was just 18 years old - a dog named Susan.
She has had more than 30 of the small dogs since then, and a number of them have been descendants of her original corgi.
Metro reports that the dog could have been named Fergus after Captain Fergus Bowes-Lyon, the Queen's uncle, who passed away at the age of 26 during the First World War in 1915.
Palace aides had worried that the corgis could become a trip hazard for the Queen, so it was thought, prior to the puppies, that she would cease to own dogs.
The Queen lost her corgi of 13 years, Vulcan, in October 2020.
Per Metro, Joe Little, a royal expert and managing editor of Majesty Magazine, said: "The thinking was enough was enough, and that she was getting too old for new dogs and who would look after them when she was gone.
"But clearly that decision was reversed and, as it turned out, it probably is very fortuitous. I think it's useful to have these puppies in her life now as way of a distraction."
The Telegraph reports that Prince Andrew gifted the puppies while Prince Phillip underwent what was to become his final hospital stay.
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