The Queen has welcomed two new puppies to her household.
For the first time in two years Her Majesty will have a couple of corgis at Windsor Castle.
It is not known what the name, ages or sex of the pets are, but they seem to have come at a good time, with the monarch needing some company while Prince Philip is in hospital.
“The Queen is delighted," a source told The Sun.
"They have only been there a couple of weeks but are said to be adorable and made the castle their home.
“Both are said to be bringing in a lot of noise and energy into the castle while Philip is in hospital.”
It is thought that the dogs were a gift, filling a dog shaped hole in Elizabeth II's life.
On her 18th birthday in 1944 she received a corgi called Susan who subsequently provided more than 30 descendants.
The last of them, Whisper, died in 2018, leaving the Queen corgi-less for the first time in 74 years.
Before her latest pair of pups, Her Majesty's only remaining dog was Candy the dorgi, following the death of dorgi Vulcan in 2020.
That wrong has been righted now that the 94-year-old matriarch has filled two of her kennels however.
The extent of the Queen's love for her dogs was underlined a year after Whisper died.
In her book All The Queen's Corgis, royal expert Penny Junor explains that the lucky dogs are given diets tailored to their specific nutritional requirements.
What is for dinner even changes depending on their current residence, with rabbit and other game on the menu when they're out on one of The Queen's estates.
"Otherwise it is a variety of fresh, cooked meat, vegetables and rice, prepared specially for them in the royal kitchens, topped with a little biscuit, homeopathic and herbal remedies when required, and a special gravy that, legend has it, is the Queen's own recipe," Junor writes.
"Whenever possible, she feeds them herself and it is an afternoon ritual; but not an unruly frantic free-for-all.
"A footman brings the food and bowls on a silver tray and lays out a plastic sheet to protect the carpet.
"The Queen then sits them in a semi-circle around her and does the rest."
When they were still alive the corgis' international stardom was cemented when they appeared alongside their owner and James Bond for a 2012 Olympics scetch.
They were captured trotting next to 007 and Her Majesty in the halls of Buckingham Palace before the duo jumped out of a helicopter and parachuted down into the Olympic Stadium.
