War Hero Describes Moment Queen Elizabeth Used Corgis to Heal his Trauma

A frontline war doctor has described the moment Queen Elizabeth II had an ingenious idea to help heal his trauma after returning from Syria.

Dr David Nott said his "bottom lip started to go" while speaking with the queen who had asked him about his time in war-torn Aleppo, in the country's north. The dog-loving monarch then introduced her corgis to cheer up the doctor.

Nott was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) by the queen in 2012 for his work providing medical services in conflict and catastrophe zones such as Bosnia, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Palestine, Nepal and Ukraine, among others.

The Welsh doctor has volunteered at organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Syria Relief, and the doctor has raised large amounts of money for charitable causes.

Nott works as a vascular and trauma surgeon at St Mary's Hospital and also performs cancer surgery at the Royal Marsden Hospital, both in London. He is the founder of the David Nott Foundation, which trains war doctors in emergency surgery.

"I'm going to start crying, I can't cope with this," Nott said, recalling the moment while speaking on a panel at the Hay Festival, an annual arts event in Powys, Wales.

This chart, provided by Statista, shows the timeline of official events for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the takeover of King Charles.

He then described how the queen "put her hand on my hand" and then whispered something to her courtiers who promptly returned with six corgis who "ran into the room."

"They ran all the way around the room and they were barking and shouting, and two or three of them went under her legs," Nott told the crowd.

The pair then spoke about the dogs for a bit, and then a courtier opened a silver container with dog treats inside.

"She picked up the biscuit and she broke it in two and gave me half the biscuit, and I thought, 'Do I eat it?', and she said, 'No, no, they're for the dog,'" Nott said.

The pair spent the following 20 minutes playing with the dogs and petting them before Queen Elizabeth II offered some pearls of wisdom.

"At the end of it, she turned to me and said, 'That's much better than talking, isn't it?'" Nott said.

Queen Elizabeth II was a well-known dog enthusiast and loved corgis above all other breeds.

She first fell in love with the breed when gifted Susan the corgi for her 18th birthday from father, King George VI.

The queen loved her first dog so much that all the following corgis were descendants of Susan. Their names ranged from regal names such as Jasmine, Flora and Laurel to others such as Socks, Dipper and Blackie.

After Susan, Queen Elizabeth II kept 14 generations of corgis as pets, and she owned more than 30 of Susan's descendants.

The queen introduced a new breed of dog, the dorgi, a mix between a dachshund and a corgi.

One royal expert told Newsweek that corgis were the queen's first and most enduring love.

"She loves animals and she absolutely adores dogs. She always has done. They were her first love and they will be her last," royal biographer Ingrid Seward said before news of the monarch's death was revealed.

Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday at the age of 96 surrounded by her family at Balmoral Castle in Scotland. At her death, she owned two corgis, a dorgi and two Cocker spaniels.

Newsweek has confirmed two of those corgis will go to her second son, Prince Andrew, and his former wife, Sarah, Duchess of York.