It's normal to feel devastated by the loss of a pet like Queen Elizabeth

Korin Miller
·Writer
(Photo: Getty Images)
(Photo: Getty Images)

Queen Elizabeth’s love of corgis is notorious, and she’s had several of the dogs ever since she was a teenager. But the queen’s last remaining full corgi Willow was just put down, and the British monarch is reportedly heartbroken over the loss.

Queen Elizabeth, 91, loves corgis so much that she’s bred them for eight decades. Willow was the 14th generation descended from Susan, a gift to Elizabeth on her 18th birthday, the Daily Mail reports. Susan was a descendent from the queen’s father George VI’s dog, Dookie.

While the Queen has one more corgi — Whisper, who she adopted from a staffer who died — Willow was the last corgi from Dookie’s bloodline. Monty Roberts, a former royal family advisor told Vanity Fair in 2015 that the queen didn’t want to have any more young dogs after 2012 because she didn’t want to “leave any behind.”

Queen Elizabeth has taken the loss of Willow, who suffered from cancer-related illness, “extremely hard,” a source told the Daily Mail. “She has mourned every one of her corgis over the years, but she has been more upset about Willow’s death than any of them,” the source said. “It is probably because Willow was the last link to her parents and a pastime that goes back to her own childhood. It really does feel like the end of an era.”

The queen reportedly fed and exercised Willow through the weekend but made the decision to call the vet on Sunday afternoon. “She does not like seeing her dogs suffer and she knows that sometimes putting a dog down is the kindest course of action, although that doesn’t make her loss any less,” the source told the Daily Mail.

Grief over the loss of a pet is real, and it’s very common. “As a therapist and psychologist, I deal with this all the time,” licensed clinical psychologist John Mayer, PhD, author of Family Fit: Find Your Balance in Life, tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

Pets often feel like part of the family, and the death of a pet means losing someone you care deeply about, Mayra Mendez, PhD, LMFT, a licensed psychotherapist and program coordinator for intellectual and developmental disabilities and mental health services at Providence Saint John’s Child and Family Development Center in Santa Monica, Calif., tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “It’s perfectly natural to grieve,” she says. “It’s not easy to just get over it and move on.”

The loss of a pet can also remind someone of their own mortality, which can bring many other fears to the surface, Mayer points out.

If you recently lost a pet, it’s important to remind yourself that grief is a process and that everyone grieves differently, licensed therapist David Klow, founder of Skylight Counseling Center in Chicago and author of You Are Not Crazy: Letters From Your Therapist, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “Anytime we think that we ‘should’ be feeling something different, we do ourselves a great disservice,” he says. “It can be an important part of healing to let ourselves feel what we need to feel, and take as much time as we need in order to get over a loss.”

It also can be helpful to remember the joy and love that your pet gave you, and how those memories can never be taken away, Mayer says. Talking about your pet, making memory books about your pet, and saving something that was meaningful to your pet, like a special toy, can help with the grieving process, Mendez says. “Honor that love you had for the pet and that they did mean something,” she says. “Make space for that pet to remain in your heart and your memory.”

While the pain will likely become less raw with time, little sounds and moments in the future will remind you of your pet, and that’s OK. “As time passes, the grief becomes less intense but it doesn’t really go away,” Mendez says.

While Willow was the last corgi from Queen Elizabeth’s family line, she still has two dorgis (corgi-dachsund mixes) named Vulcan and Candy.

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.