This isn't going to help corgi publicity at all!

By Andrew Hough

12:00PM BST 19 Aug 2012

They may be among the Queen's favourite subjects but her corgis are in the doghouse after getting into a fight with one of Princess Beatrice's pets. Max, an 11–year–old Norfolk terrier, is said to have been badly injured after a "nasty" encounter at Balmoral castle last week. The Princess's pet nearly lost an ear and suffered several bloody bite injuries that had to be treated by a vet, in the latest in a series of scraps between royal dogs. It came days after the death from natural causes of another dog belonging to the Duke of York's elder daughter. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were said to be "very upset" about the incident, thought to have occurred last Sunday. The Queen was elsewhere in her Scottish castle when the fight erupted between six corgis and three Norfolk terriers.

"The Queen's dog boy was taking the corgis for a walk and they were joined by the Norfolk terriers, which came with Prince Andrew," one insider told a Sunday newspaper. "They were being taken along the long corridor leading to the Tower Door before being let into the grounds for a walk, and they all became overexcited. They began fighting among themselves and unfortunately the dog boy lost control. "The next thing we knew there were horrific yelps and screams and it seems the corgis picked on Max. "He was very badly injured and had to be taken to the local vet. There was blood everywhere.

Max disappeared in 2008 from the family home in Windsor Great Park, and a search party, including the Queen, the Duchess of York and Princess Eugenie, was formed. Three weeks later he was found bedraggled and hungry. The royal source added: "It's ironic that the Queen was very worried about Max and helped in the search for him, but now her own dogs have attacked him."

The Queen owns three Pembroke Welsh corgis called Monty, Willow and Holly, which are all descended from a dog she was given for her 18th birthday, which was called Susan.

Some corgis were mated with dachshunds, most notably Pipkin, which belonged to the late Princess Margaret, to create "Dorgis". Her three Dorgis are called Cider, Candy and Vulcan.

This sort of news just depresses me.