What on earth was I going to do? How could I possibly cope with such responsibility? Would I be able to woof at the right times without howling too much?
These questions were troubling me so much one day that I couldn’t even finish my doggy chunks and pint of Pawsecco!
It was only a few months ago at Christmas, whilst attending the Church service at Sandringham, that a human called King Charles III looked straight at me and pointed, a big beaming smile on his face. That must surely have meant I’d been knighted—and therefore given special duties to perform at his Coronation in just a few weeks! Panic-stricken, I had to wake my sister, Miss Zsa Zsa, from her deep slumber to tell her all my woes.
‘Ziggy Bear, you are a daft doggy,’ Miss Zsa Zsa woofed. ‘The King wasn’t knighting you – he was just being very friendly because he’s a nice human. Let’s be honest, no one could ignore you that day because you were howling so much! So don’t worry, you won’t be called on to do anything.’
I instantly felt a pang of relief. My sister is very wise, you know, and her comforting barks reassured me a lot. However, all this made me quite inquisitive. I had heard that the royalty in this country and my breed, the King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, have had an interesting relationship. I decided to do some research which I would like to share with my fellow furry friends and human readers.
Did you know that King Charles Cavalier Spaniels have been popular with English royalty for centuries? Our breed is first thought to have arrived in Europe from Japan during the early 16th century, probably as a royal gift. We were rare at that time and very expensive and so only really wealthy humans like the members of the royal family or the aristocracy could afford us.
The first record of spaniels was during the reign of King Henry VIII. He declared that no dogs were to be kept at court except small spaniels for the ladies. His last wife, Catherine Parr, had a pet spaniel called Rig who wore a velvet collar studded with gold. She was so devoted to him that she was buried with one of his teeth.
In 1587 Mary Queen of Scots hid a small black and white spaniel beneath her skirts as she was about to be executed. It is said that this doggy refused to leave his dead mistress’s body and died of grief a few days later.
The King that we are most associated with is of course Mary’s great grandson, and our namesake, King Charles II. He loved us dearly and so did his dad, King Charles I whose spaniel, Rogue, accompanied him to his execution in 1649. It was during the reign of Charles 1 and II that we became a major part of royal family life. In fact Charles II doted on us so much that he was rarely seen without a spaniel by his side. We were even allowed to accompany him to posh state banquets, to council meetings and the best bit of all, to the royal bed. We had our own royal hairdressers and footmen, we wore collars of silk ribbon, precious metals or gold embroidered velvet, and we were allowed to eat the poshest food on offer at the time. It is a common belief that the King also decreed that we should be allowed free access to all the royal palaces and parks. This gave rise to the myth that we are allowed to go anywhere we like, including the Houses of Parliament. Samuel Pepys, that human who wrote a lot of things in a diary, used to get so annoyed by King Charles II. He wrote, “All I observed there was the silliness of the King, playing with his dog all the while and not minding the business.” By 1670 spaniels had become the must-have companion for every fashionable court lady.
Queen Victoria had a Tricolor just like me called Dash during her teens. Apparently she loved him to bits and was heartbroken when he died in 1840. A marble effigy was erected over his grave at Windsor Home Park.
Our current King is familiar with us spaniels; his Aunt, Princess Margaret, had a spaniel called Rawley and Queen Elizabeth II had a ruby. However, somehow I don’t think any Cavaliers will be sleeping on his bed! He, along with his wife Camilla, will begin their reign with their own beloved pooches, two Jack Russell Terriers.
I hope you all enjoyed reading about our relationship with royalty over the last few hundred years. I just wanted to woof that ALL doggies are very special, not just us, but I’d like to think King Charles II and his dad would be delighted to see how popular our breed has become. These days we no longer all live in palaces but we still expect to be treated like Kings!
If you’d like to hear more tail-wagging royal adventures, sniff out our other blog post right here. Go on, it’s pawsitively majestic! 🐶✨
Woofs Ziggy Bear
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Another great story! Thank you very much! And have lots of fun at May 6th. Hope to see some pics. Lots of love to all of you! XXX Janneke
Thank you so much Janneke! We will be going to Sandringham to watch everything so very excited ! xx