Prices for corgis, the dogs beloved by Britain's late Queen Elizabeth, have soared to new highs since her funeral last week, the UK's largest pet marketplace has said.
Pets4Homes told AFP it was currently experiencing "over ten times the volume of daily searches for corgis when compared to this time last week".
It added: "The prices asked for by registered corgi breeders have today hit a new high, with average asking prices doubling over the past three days."
One of the small herding dogs now sells for over £2,500 for the first time, even outstripping prices reached during the Covid-19 pandemic, when demand spiked for four-legged companions.
The dogs were a busy presence in the queen's court, following her from room to room and featuring in official photos.
They were even given a starring role in the spoof James Bond clip filmed with the queen for the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.
The queen, whose funeral was last Monday, stopped raising corgis in her 90s so as not to leave them orphaned after her death.
Nevertheless, the queen still had two "dorgis" - dachshund and corgi crosses - to keep her company in her final years.
"The queen was, amongst many things, a world-famous dog lover and really did symbolise the love and affection that our nation holds for their dogs," Mark Beazley, Kennel Club chief executive, told AFP.
"She was especially known for her Welsh Pembroke Corgis after being gifted her first Corgi, Susan, by her father, King George VI when she was 18," he added.
The queen was so fond of her corgis that she personally supervised their daily meal, according to 'Pets by Royal Appointment’, a book on British royal pets.
The dogs' dinners of fillet steak and chicken breast were prepared by a footman and served at 5pm sharp every day, with the queen pouring the gravy on the feast.
