The Ultimate Guide and Galleria of Royal Pets

Just like their commoner counterparts-their subjects, people of other lands, etc.-Royals like animals, and keep them as pets. Granted, some of these animals are more unconventional-i.e. many royal families take claim to the Royal Zoo animals…take Great Britian or Monaco for example: In Great Britain, not only does the Sovereign take claim to her private animals such as dogs or horses, but to several exotic animals in the London Zoo. In Monaco, Prince Rainier started a zoo in 1954 that once held two hundred fifty animals that includes many animals including: elephants, an Arabian camel, exotic birds, a black panther, white tiger, hippopotamus, reptiles, primates, lemurs, among others.
Marcia Tracy and Ashley Michael explored the four-legged friends of royal families from Belgium, Great Britain, Denmark, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and more!
  • Belgium
  1. Queen Paola walking her Bull Terrier
  2. Prince Laurent & Princess Claire have a Jack Russel Terrier named Kropka.
    1. Here they are with Kropka in 2003 and again
    2. Laurent with 3 dogs, including Kropka, in 2009: One of them, a Bernese Mountain Dog (in French: Bouvier Bernois) died, it says in the article. In the picture, this one who died is on the Left. He was 7 years old and had cancer. That article tells a strange story: In the summer of 2009, the Bernese Mountain Dog died from cancer and Laurent was so upset he had the dog’s corpse frozen at the University of Ghent. Three months later, he said he was ready to say goodbye to the dog, so the veterinary school @ the university, where the dog was frozen, thawed the dog and Laurent said goodbye.
    3. Prince Laurent has created his own foundation to help domestic and wild animals: Wikipedia article about it and Official Website (not yet functional)
  • Great Britain
    1. Queen Elizabeth: 
      1. She presently owns four Pembroke Corgis and  three Dorgis: 
        1. four Corgis: Linnet, Monty, Willow and Holly {source 1
          1. with one in the 1980s
          2. Greeting Canandian Corgis and their owners
        2. Dorgis: Cider, Candy and Vulcan. {source 1} [Dorgi = Corgi + Dachshund. This breed came into existence when one of the Queen's Corgis got naughty with one of the late Queen Mother's Dachshunds.] -ACM
        3. The Queen is known to pamper her beloved dogs. It has been reported that her dogs are often treated better than some human members of the Royal Family. The Queen feeds her dogs chef-prepared cooked meat.{Source 2}
        4. She received her first corgi, Susan, for her 18th birthday in 1944. She was so delighted with Susan that she even took her on her honeymoon with Prince Phillip in 1947. Since then, the 30+ Corgis she has had have been decedents of her beloved Susan. She sometimes allows her beloved dogs to sleep in her room, but often they sleep in their own room, in their wicker baskets that are raised from the floor in order to prevent droughts.The Queen is so in love with her dogs that she once fired a footman for spiking one of her dogs food and water with whiskey and gin in 1999. One of her corgis, Phoenix, who had died two years prior to the above incident, was found to have traces of alcohol in his blood. Each Christmas, the Queen personally makes her dogs stockings including: biscuits, chocolate drops, crackers, and plastic toys (with the squeakers removed). {Source 2}
    2. Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales and HRH Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall: 
      1. Camilla's Jack Russell terriers: Tosca, Rosie, and Beth {Source 3
        1. Beth is 12 weeks old and a brand new addition to the Wales family as of August 2011. Unlike many other royal dogs, who are bred specifically to continue the royal bloodlines, Beth was rescued from the Battersea animal shelter which Camilla and Charles support.
        2. Camilla has been proud owner of three other Jack Russell terriers, including Tosca and Rosie, since 2006; she's also a patron of the Animal Care Trust. {Source 4} Another Jack Russell who has his clutches on Camilla's heart is Freddie, who was sired by Prince Charles' favorite Tigga--see next point! {Source 5}
      2. Prince Charles' beloved Tigger, also known as Tigga, a Jack Russell who died after a life of 18 years! {Source 5}
      3. Camilla's horses: Molly, Willie and Bearskin {Source 6} {Source 7}
    3. William and Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
      1. Prince William's first dog was a black Labrador puppy, a female, named Widgeon. He was about 12 or 13 years old when he got Widgeon as a gift from his grandmother's Sandringham kennels. Widgeon gave birth to eight pups herself in 2003.
      2. Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, has been seen walking with a few canine friends. At the Beaufort Polo Club in July 2006--back when she was just plain 'Waity Katie' Middleton--while Prince William played polo, she played fetch with a Golden Retriever!{Source 17} {Source 18}
    4. Anne, Princess Royal: 
      1. Doublet (horse in 1971 that she won the European Championship with) {Source 8
      2. Two English bull terriers, one of whom is named Dotty. In 2002, she was the first senior royal to be convicted of a crime because her dog attacked two children. She was forced to pay a fine of £500, and £500 compensation after pleading guilty to a charge that one of her dogs attacked two children. The courts also order her to keep the dog on a lead in public, to organize training for the animal, and to pay £148 in court costs. Her grand total of fines was £1,148, and to put the dog into training, and a warning that if it were to happen again, the animal would have to be put down. Normally, penalties can include a £5,000 fine, six months imprisonment and the animal being euthanized.{Source 9
      3. The following year Dotty's mum Florence bit maid Ruby Brooker and later mauled the Queen's corgi Pharos, which was put down after her leg was broken. Florence and Dotty were sent for retraining.{Source 10}
      4. Princess Anne walking her little Terrors - oops. Excuse the Freudian slip? I meant, Terriers. - ACM
      5. Princess Anne, Vice-Admiral Laurence, and one of the Terriers--maybe Flo? -ACM
    5. Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillps:
      1. Toytown, a chestnut gelding born in 1992, with particularly distinctive markings including a white blaze and white spots, is a British eventing horse owned and ridden by Zara Phillips. Toytown was officially retired in August 2011 on the final day of the British Festival of Eventing. {Source 11}
      2. Tsunami II: On 25 October 2008, she fell from her horse, Tsunami II, at the 15th fence of a cross-country event at Pau, France, and broke her right collarbone. The horse had broken its neck after it had tipped over the hedge and so had to be put down.
      3. Zara is also known to have at least two dogs, of her mother's favorite canine breed, the Bull Terrier. In 2009, she had a mother-like-daughter moment when she decided to break the rules while training at the Burghley Horse Trials--where there are strict "dogs must be kept on leads at all times" regulations--by letting her two dogs, Spey and Corley, off their leads. {Source 12}
    6. Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, the Queen's younger sister:
      1.  Cavalier King Charles Spaniel for many years prior to her death {Source 13
    7. Princess Beatrice had a Norwich Terrier named Max since the age of 7. In 2008, Max went missing, and Sarah, Duchess of York, offered a substantial reward for his return, with "no questions asked". Her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, inlisted the help of the Royal Protection Officers, as well as the groundkeepers of the park where Princess Beatrice's beloved Max went missing. The Queen even personally helped her destrought granddaughter look for her beloved friend. After three weeks of searching for him, Princess Beatrice's pal finally made a royal appearance again. {Source 14}{Source 15} {Source 16}
    8. There were many animals given as gifts during The Queen’s reign, several of which were/are housed at The London Zoo.{source 1} These include:
      1. a brown Syrian bear given to Princess Anne by the Soviet leaders Bulganin and Kruschev 
      2. two sloths given to The Queen during her State Visit to Brazil in 1968 
      3. a baby crocodile given to The Duke of York following the State Visit to Gambia in 1961 
      4. a horse given to The Queen by Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands. The horse was housed in the Royal Mews
      5. a canary from Germany 
      6. jaguars and sloths from Brazil 
      7. two black beavers from Canada 
      8. two young giant turtles from the Seychelles 
      9. an elephant called Jumbo from the Cameroon. 
    9. Princess Michael of Kent--aka Marie-Christine, wife of the Queen's 1st cousin Prince Michael of Kent--is absolutely batty about her fleet of Burmese and Siamese cats. God forbid if any stray cats around the grounds of Kensington Palace get naughty with her precious pure-breed felines. To prevent this, she sets out cat traps all around the place. Diana, Princess of Wales and Prince William, now the Duke of Cambridge, used to have fun with her by setting the caught strays free and replacing them with stuffed toy ones! {Source 19}

  1. Felipe and Letizia, the Prince and Princess of Asturias, were presented with a brown and white puppy named Valiente in 2005. Valiente literally means: Brave and valient!{Source 1}
  2. King Juan Carlos at one time had a German Shepard. {Source 2}
  3. Infanta Elena's children, Felipe and Victoria, have had a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel since 2008.{Source 3}
  4. Not to be outdone by her husband, children and grandchildren, Queen Sofia has been pictured with numerous dogs
  • Sweden:
  1. Swedish Royal Family had a Lab called Jambo, from 1998-2010. He died, it was announced in November 2010. {Source 1
    1. Princess Victoria hugging Jambo
    2. Princess Victoria affectionately pets Jambo (late 90s or early 2000s)
    3. Victoria and Jambo on her birthday in 2004
    4. The King and Jambo
    5. Jambo appeared officially with the Swedish royal family on the palace balcony {Source 4}
  2. Princess Madeleine and boyfriend Jonas walked with  Jambo in 2003 , again {Source 2}
    1. Madde, then a university student, and her 2 top men :) , again {see Source 2}
    2. Madde and Jambo posed for a formal portrait in 2000. {Source: Vanity Fair magazine} and Another from the same photo session {Source: SVD}
  3. Crown Princess Victoria had a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Sissi {Source 2 and see below Source 5}
  4. Princess Madeleine walks with with Zorro, a Jack Russell terrier, in 2009
  5. Prince Carl Philip with his Rottweiler named Gila (alternately spelled "Gela") in 2004 {see Source 3 below, and Source 5}
    1. walking in a park ; again
    2. walking on a street in Stockholm, without having his dog on a leash which the online 'zine Aftonbladet called him out on, saying he might have been fined for violating the city's leash law. {Source 3}
  6. King Carl has had a dog named Zila. Zila's breed is called Slovensky Kopov, which is a kind of hunting dog. {see above Source 5}
  7. Princess Lilian has had a Golden Retriever named Bingo.{see again Source 5; Source 6; Source 7} It is noteworthy that some royal watchers on The Royal Forums seem to be confused about Bingo and Jambo. They are very different dogs. Bingo belongs to Princess Lilian and he is a Golden Retriever. Jambo belonged to the King and Queen and their children, and Jambo was a Labrador. Bingo and Jambo have a similar color, but of course, Bingo has a very long coat, which is typical of the Golden Retriever breed.
  • Miscellaneous
  1. Princess Lalla Aicha of Morocco with her Pekinese
  2. Former Empress of Iran, Farah Pahlavi, and her grandaughter, Princess Iman, with the Empress´s beagle, Belli
  3. Jordan's native Princess Haya bint al Hussein with her 13-year-old gelding Olanar in the summer of 2010.
  4. Prince Nicholas and Princess Tatiana of Greece took their Boston Terrier on a ski vacation with them in Switzerland in 2006.
  5. Crown Princess Masako, Crown Prince Naruhito, and Princess Aiko of Japan have two identical dogs: Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic 3.

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