The Queen was given the corgi puppy, named Fergus, while her late husbandPrince Philip was in the hospital

Queen Elizabeth has suffered more heartache — Fergus, one of two new puppiesgiven to her while her late husband Prince Philip was in the hospital, hasdied.

“It’s all very sad,” a royal insider tells PEOPLE of the news of the death ofFergus.

Fergus is thought to have been a dorgi (a corgi crossed with a dachshund), andwas named after the Queen’s late uncle Fergus Bowes-Lyon, who died duringWorld War I in 1915. The other dog is named was Muick after a favorite spotnear Balmoral Castle.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the story that first appeared in TheSun on Wednesday. The newspaper said the Queen, 95, was “devastated” byFergus’s death.

The puppies joined the Queen’s last remaining corgi, Candy, following thedeath of another dorgi, Vulcan, late last year and had been a welcome – andlively – addition for the monarch. She exercised them by walking on thegrounds of Windsor Castle, where she has been living alongside a small, tight-knit number of staffers during the coronavirus pandemic. And she was seentaking the dogs for strolls around Frogmore House in Windsor in the immediateaftermath of Philip’s death, at the age 99, and funeral in April.

The Queen has owned corgis and dorgis all her adult life, but was down to herlast one, Candy, following the death of another dorgi, Vulcan, late last year.

It was thought that she didn’t want to have any more dogs – in part because itrisked her tripping over one of the pets and also because she didn’t want toleave any young dogs behind.

One of her most famous dogs, Monty, starred in the short film that playedduring the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games when the monarchjoined James Bond star Daniel Craig for a memorable sketch.

Source: USA People

Previous APCA Factsheet – Boarding your Dog

Next Pandemic protection: ‘animal-disease detectives’ safeguarding health