For the people of the United Kingdom, and for many others overseas, the news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II is hard to take in. For all or most of our lives she had been our figurehead and her sense of duty was an extraordinary example to us all.

But for Pembroke Corgi enthusiasts in the UK and beyond, her loss carries a special resonance. It was her family’s purchase of two Pembrokes, Dookie and Jane, in the mid 1930s that was to a large extent responsible for a previously little known Welsh farm dog becoming familiar to everybody and reaching remarkable levels of popularity.

Some years later Susan joined the family and founded the Windsor dynasty of Pembrokes which continued for some 70 years. The Queen’s loyalty to, and obvious love for, her favourite breed must have convinced countless members of the public of the qualities we all know the Pembroke possesses.

Although she never chose to exhibit her own Pembrokes, she took a deep and serious interest in the breed’s progress and selected stud dogs carefully, a number of breeders over the years being asked to travel to Windsor with the chosen males.

She enjoyed meeting other Pembroke enthusiasts, and taking a Corgi with you was a surefire way of drawing Her Majesty’s attention during her ‘walkabouts’ on her tours at home and abroad. In recent years there were a number of Corgi walks on royal estates and when members of the East Anglian Sub-Section visited Sandringham a few years ago, she spent a happy hour chatting to them and admiring their dogs. Nor should we forget that she, her mother and sister spent some time at one of the League’s first championship shows back in 1946.

I know that all League members will want to pay their own tributes to the breed’s longest-standing supporter and will send sympathy to all the Royal Family.

SIMON PARSONS, Welsh Corgi League president