This charming
publication celebrates the important role
played by dogs in the public and private
lives of the Royal Family. Selected from the
Royal Photograph Collection, it brings
together over 200 affectionate, amusing and
often poignant images of canine companions –
from Dash,
Queen Victoria’s beloved King Charles
spaniel and Eos, Prince Albert’s elegant
greyhound, to the famous corgis of the House
of Windsor. Over the 150 years covered by
the book, dogs appear centre stage in both
formal studio portraits and as part of
relaxed family groups. Most of the
photographs come from private family albums
and have never been published before.
With the advent
of photography and the development of the
hand-held camera, proud owners could record
favourite animals at work, rest and play.
Dogs are seen riding in carriages, on board
the royal yacht, on guard duty at Windsor
Castle and in the arms of monarchs,
consorts, princes and princesses. Queen
Victoria and Prince Albert were patrons and
collectors of photography, and several
members of the Royal Family were gifted
amateur photographers. Queen Alexandra,
consort of King Edward VII, exhibited her
work and did much to popularise the medium.
Her son Prince Alfred shared his mother’s
interest and took a series of photographic
self-portraits in 1864 with his Scotch
terrier.
As pets or
working animals, dogs came into the
possession of the Royal Family through many
different routes. Quarry, a Russian dog, was
brought back for Queen Victoria from
Sebastopol by British troops serving in the
Crimean War. Looty, another gift to the
Queen, was probably the first Pekingese dog
to arrive in Britain. King Edward VII’s
Samoyed was a present from the German
Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, while Vassilka
and Alex, the first Borzois in the royal
kennels, were presented by Tsar Alexander
III of Russia. Skippy, on the other hand,
was rescued from Battersea Dogs Home by
Prince Leopold, son of Queen Victoria.
The Royal Family has been responsible for
popularising many unusual breeds in England.
Queen Victoria brought back Marco, a
Pomeranian, from a visit to Italy in 1888
and at one time had 35 of the breed in the
royal kennels. In 1891 she showed six of the
dogs at Cruft's - Fluffy, Nino, Mino, Beppo,
Gilda and Lulu. A Pomeranian called Turi
often accompanied the Queen on her carriage
drives in the last years of her life and was
at her side when she died. The Japanese
Chin, which had been introduced from Japan
in the 1880s, became a favourite breed of
Queen Alexandra, as were Papillons and
Pekingese. She was also well known for the
Borzoi dogs that were bred at Sandringham
and regularly entered them into
competitions.
Her Majesty The
Queen is among the world’s leading breeders
of Pembroke corgis. The first royal corgis,
Dookie and Jane, were bought for the
Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose by
their parents, King George VI and Queen
Elizabeth. A series of charming photographs
taken at Windsor and in London in 1936 shows
Princess Elizabeth’s affectionate
relationship with the dogs. All of The
Queen's corgis are descendants of Susan, who
was given to the Princess as an
18th-birthday present in 1944.
Her Majesty currently has nine dogs: five
corgis and four dorgis
(a dachshund and corgi cross).
Photographs
reveal the deep devotion shared by
generations of dogs and their royal owners.
Queen Victoria’s spaniel, Dash, was buried
at Windsor with an epitaph that read: His
attachment was without selfishness, His
playfulness without malice, His fidelity
without deceit. READER, if you would live
beloved and die regretted, profit by the
example of DASH. In a particularly tender
image from 1863, Boy, the Queen’s favourite
dachshund, is shown a few days before his
death, watched over by a concerned
housekeeper. King Edward VII’s terrier,
Caesar, accompanied his master everywhere.
He wore a collar with the inscription ‘I am
Caesar. I belong to the King’ and was even
immortalised in a tiny sculpture by the
famous Russian jeweller, Carl Fabergé.
Caesar achieved widespread fame on the
King’s death in 1910, when the inconsolable
dog walked behind his master’s coffin in the
funeral procession.
Many of the
photographs show the Royal Family at play
with their pets. Prince Wilhelm of Prussia
(Queen Victoria’s eldest grandson and the
future German Kaiser) and the young Princess
of Wales (the future Queen Alexandra) are
seen teaching a dog the trick of ‘sit up and
beg’. An image of 1895 records the Duke of
York (later King George V) smiling fondly at
a pug wrapped in a coat and wearing a scarf
on its head. In 1883 Spot the fox terrier
posed for the camera while apparently
smoking a pipe, and in 1896 Sammy the poodle
demonstrated his acrobatic skills by
balancing on two chairs, holding a stick in
his mouth.
"Noble Hounds and Dear Companions," by Sophie
Gordon, Curator of the Royal Photograph
Collection, will be available from Royal
Collection shops at Buckingham Palace,
Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, from
www.royalcollection.org.uk and all good
bookshops.
