Queen Consort joining Paul O’Grady for Christmas special For The Love of Dogs-Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro

The Queen Consort is a self-confessed dog lover (Picture: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)

A special royal episode of Paul O’Grady’s For the Love of Dogs is set to air this festive season, and will feature the Queen Consort, Camilla Parker Bowles.

The one-off special episode of the award-winning series which ran for nine series from 2012, will celebrate 160 years of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

The episode will feature King Charles III’s wife, The Queen Consort, a long term supporter of Battersea and self-confessed dog-lover, in her previous role as The Duchess of Cornwall, hosting a celebratory event at Clarence House and later helping Paul care for some of the abandoned dogs searching for a new forever home.

In the hour-long episode, The Queen Consort hosts a garden party at Clarence House to celebrate Battersea’s anniversary before joining Paul at Battersea’s Brands Hatch site in Kent.

Together they will meet some of the dogs struggling to be rehomed and assist with their treatment and care, in the hope of finding them a happy-ever-after home of their own in time for Christmas.

The special comes at a time when Battersea is particularly busy due to an overwhelming number of dogs that are more difficult to rehome because of older age, medical or behavioural issues.

Paul has been fronting the beloved show since 2012 (Picture: ITV/RICHARD LEA-HAIR/REX/Shutterstock)

Speaking about the special, Paul said: ‘In the 11 years that I’ve been filming at Battersea, I’ve never known it so busy.

‘What’s worrying is, there are a lot of dogs in here who would be classed as hard to home.

‘Dogs with disabilities, blind dogs, you name it, we’ve got them in here at the moment.’

Top of Paul’s rehoming list are a blind Jack Russell, a giant Schnauzer with a life-threatening gastric issue and a puppy with a will of steel, fighting all the odds to survive.

The new special comes after the TV presenter apparently had his love for dogs tested after he was whacked in the mouth by a puppy when he was taking a walk in his local park.

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Perhaps this fiendish puppy heard the presenter recently used a £5 bill to scoop up dog poo before spending the (cleaned) note in a shop…

The former teatime chat show host, 67, has always been a lover of dogs and famously featured his canine companions on his show – most notably his four-legged friend Buster, who made regular appearances on The Paul O’Grady show until the canine’s death in 2009.

Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs is coming to ITV soon.

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