Portskerra girl Eevie Mackay 'over the moon' with trip to Balmoral along with her corgi Bagel

Bagel turned out to be the star of the show at Balmoral Castle this weekend, proving a hit with visitors from afar afield as America and Australia.

The eight-month-old Pembroke Welsh corgi was invited to the special Queen's platinum jubilee event along with two "members of staff" – his owner 12-year-old Eevie Mackay and her mum Michelle Mason from Portskerra. Eevie is a pupil at Melvich Primary School.

Michelle said: "Eevie had an absolutely brilliant time – she was over the moon to be there on such a special occasion. She just loved it, seeing all the different corgis."

A total of 70 corgis were invited and organisers were said to be worried they would struggle to get the full amount but around 73 dogs turned up for Saturday's event.

Bagel got lots of attention from visitors to the royal castle as he strolled around the grounds, young children could be heard saying "there's Bagel" as they spotted him.

Some American teenagers are now following the local dog on Instagram – Bagel has is own account @bagelhighlandcorgi and has a large number of followers already.

During the corgi meet, a lady from Melbourne, Australia, asked to have her picture taken with Bagel, as did three little girls all kitted out for the day in Union Jack dresses. "They just loved him," said Michelle. "He certainly was the star of the show."

The Pembroke Welsh corgi is a real character he likes to smile when he lies on his back and enjoys performing tricks such as rolling over and speaking on demand, he will also pretend to be dead by lying on his side.

"Corgis are very intelligent and are so easy to train," explained Michelle. "We have been very lucky with him."

Bagel and Eevie were able to meet up with Thurso corgi Pistol and his owner Jill McLennan. In the large group photo the local contingent were lucky to be sitting on the far right where more space was available.

Despite being tired after the trip the Melvich pupil was looking forward to going back to school on Monday to tell everybody how she got on. Bagel was also worn out after the whole experience. "His Lordship is tired out, he slept most of the way back in the car and is still tired," said Michelle.

As a memento of the special event Eevie's mum bought her a wee corgi toy, complete with jubilee medal, from the castle gift shop.

Read more: Local corgis set to take part in jubilee celebrations at Balmoral

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