Queen 'hit extremely hard' by death of her last beloved Royal corgi

It’s never easy to lose a pet, which is why The Queen has reportedly been ‘hit extremely hard’ by her dog's passing.

Reports from the palace say Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is absolutely gutted by the loss of her beloved corgi Willow, the last in a royal line of loyal, nippy dogs who have kept the monarch company during her entire reign.

The 14-year-old dog, who appeared in the 2012 James Bond Olympics sketch, had been suffering from a cancer-related illness and the Queen reportedly didn't want it to suffer anymore. Willow died on Sunday, April 15, as reported by Hello Magazine.

Willow was featured in Queen Elizabeth's 90th birthday photos taken by Annie Leibovitz in 2016 and has appeared alongside Queen Elizabeth during numerous public appearances over the years.

This marks the end of the monarch’s longstanding tradition; it is the first time Her Majesty hasn’t had a corgi in her household since World War II. The Queen, 91, is well known for her love of corgis and has bred them for nearly eight decades.

The purebred dog was a 14th-generation corgi owned by Queen Elizabeth. The dog was the last of a group of purebred corgis descended from Susan, a corgi that then-Princess Elizabeth received as a gift.

And from Susan’s line, the queen’s breeding program at the Kennels of Windsor whelped hundreds of corgi puppies. Queen Elizabeth never sold them but instead gave them to family friends.

Queen Elizabeth is believed to have raised dozens of corgis during her life. She still has a dachshund-corgi crossbreed and another adopted corgi not descended from Susan. Willow was sadly put down at Windsor Castle.

Before celebrity dogs on Instagram were earning more money than humans, Willow was world-famous. You may have spotted the dog alongside Holly, another one of the Queen’s corgis, in the opening sketch at the 2012 London Olympic Games.

The queen wasn’t the only member of the family to have a strong bond with her pooches.

Back in November 2017, when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement, the young royal revealed that his bride-to-be was getting along swimmingly with the family’s beloved pets.

Still, the Queen has two remaining "dorgis", dachshund-corgis mixes, named Vulcan and Candy. Still, this is so very sad.