ty’s Pets Dookie acquired a ‘wife’ three years later, Rozavel Lady Jane, but he was reluctant to consummate the marriage so Jane was mated to Rozavel Tafferteffy in 1938 and on Christmas Eve she had her puppies. Carol and Crackers were kept but Carol became subject to fits and was put to sleep and Crackers became the Queen Mother’s favourite. Jane was tragically run over and killed in 1944 by one of the estate workers in Windsor Great Park and as a replacement, Princess Elizabeth was given for her 18th birthday a two months old puppy named Susan (Hickathrift Pippa). Nearly all the Queen’s present Corgis go back to Susan’s first litter with Ch. Rozavel Lucky Strike in 1949. Although the Queen has never shown her Corgis she has always used well-bred stud dogs. The only Corgi bred by the Queen to have been campaigned was Windsor Loyal Subject who won two CCs for his owner, Thelma Gray. He was born in 1971 by Ch. Kaytop Marshall ex Windsor Brush and was one of two Corgis taken to Australia when Thelma Gray emigrated. Following Thelma Gray’s death in 1984, the Adelaide Hills Kennel Club decided to have a second championship show each year and named it The Thelma Gray Memorial Show. In January 1986 the Queen made a generous donation to the club to purchase a Perpetual Trophy in memory of the late Thelma Gray to be presented to the Best of Breed Pembroke Corgi. As my contribution to the Royal Jubilee I feature a painting of some of the Queen’s most recent favourite pets. It is an outsize portrait of four Corgis and three interlopers, Dorgis. These originated by crossing one of the Queen’s Corgis with a Longhaired Dachshund belonging to Princess Margaret and have gone through several generations. Even Her Majesty has ‘designer dogs’!
The picture was a commission from the Royal Household to mark the Queen’s 80th birthday and was painted from photographs sent from the Palace. It hangs in the Queen’s private quarters and I gather from all accounts, ‘Her Majesty is amused.’
T
he dogs are Corgis, Linnet, Monty, Holly and Willow, and Dorgis, Cider, Berry and Candy and as the Queen is reputedly not breeding any more, the Corgis may be the last of the line of royal Corgis. ‘The Royal Favourites’ was painted by self-taught artist, Cindy Lass, whose simplistic, almost child-like images with their instantly recognisable vibrant colours and bold forms which have become her trademark. Cindy left school with an Equity card and aspirations to act and radio voice-overs and acting jobs followed but in 1994 on impulse she bought a sketchpad and some paints, painted a blue and white vase and a new career began. In the years that followed, Cindy concentrated on flower paintings and still-life studies but when her Yorkshire Terrier, Cookie, died she wanted to dedicate something to her memory and so the seeds were sown for a series of portraits of celebrities’ dogs. The ‘Celebrity Pawtraits’ exhibition in London in the summer of 2001 saw the proceeds going to Battersea Dogs’ Home. Cindy’s art is as much about giving something as it is in receiving satisfaction from doing it and the London exhibition was followed by one in New York, the proceeds going to DOGNY – America’s tribute to search and rescue dogs, with a large proportion of the money raised by Cindy ring-fenced for research into the correct veterinary care for traumatised dogs. Cindy has given the UK charity, Dogs Trust, permission to use ‘The Royal Favourites’ on Jubilee T-shirts and tea-towels and Cindy herself has a range of coats for dogs with the image of the royal dogs on the outside and to give the coats a bit of extra class, they are lined with crowns and coronets. Must-haves for every Corgi enthusiast. There can be few other artists who can claim a fan base of admiring art lovers which includes such celebrities as Sir Elton John, Victoria and David Beckham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sir Richard Branston, the late Dame Elizabeth Taylor, Uri Geller and others. Cindy Lass can be contacted at cindy@ cindylass.com and her work viewed at www. cindylass.com.
Dog News 45