Pieter and Sharon of the Wellington Welsh Corgi Club with their dogs Chilli Bean and Willow Bear. Photo / NZ Herald
Dozens of corgis galloped along Wellington's waterfront in memory of the corgi-loving Queen Elizabeth II.
The Wellington Welsh Corgi Club organised the memorial walk to celebrate the life of the late Queen, on the same day that her State Memorial was held in the capital.
Club organiser Michael Romano told the Herald he's expecting between 10 and 20 corgis – and likely more other dogs – alongside himself and his show-dog Fletcher.
"The more corgis the better!"
The group met at TSB arena, before wandering along Queens Wharf towards Oriental Bay where the pups could run and play.
The club has been going since 2006, and is now the largest corgi club in all of Aotearoa.
"We're bigger than all of them put together!" Romano said.
Romano said he thinks the walk is a great way to celebrate the life of the Queen – who he says was the "world's chief corgi promoter" since she received her first corgi, Dookie, in 1933.
The Queen was a lifelong fan of the breed, owning corgis from 1933 up to her death in September 2022. Many were bred from Susan, a corgi gifted to the Queen on her 18th birthday.
Susan and the Queen were inseparable, with Susan even accompanying her on her honeymoon in 1947. The Queen often took her dogs with her on her travels, including a 1981 holiday where it was reported that no less than 13 corgis accompanied her to Balmoral for the summer.
When she died, the Queen had two remaining corgis – Muick and Sandy – who will now live with the Duke and Duchess of York Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson.
The airport is built on land confiscated by the Crown in 1866.