Royal British Pet List

[Adagietto]

Two dozen cats seems quite enough to be closely intimate with! But I suppose different ones would have lived in different places. Maybe the way in which the royal family has always moved from house to house at different parts of the year is one of the reasons why dogs have been so favoured over cats; you can't haul cats from one place to another as you can dogs. Princess Michael of Kent seems to be the only member of the family who is really keen on cats these days. Does anyone know how Queen Victoria felt about cats?

[helenazar]

Does anyone know how Queen Victoria felt about cats?

Queen Victoria purchased two blue Persians at the Crystal Palace cat show. The Queen gave an aristocratic seal of approval to solid colored long coated cats, thus she inadvertently endorsed cat shows as a socially acceptable form of public entertainment...During the Victorian and Edwardian days, the British cat fancy had exhibitors with titles that were longer than their cats. HRH Princess Victoria of Schleswig Holstein was Patron of the National. The Lady Decies showed many fine longhairs. Lady Marcus Beresford was said to own over 150 cats and traveled to cat shows with an entourage of servants. Queen Victoria and the then Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) were regular attendees at later shows.

[Adagietto]

Thank you. I don't know why, but it seems very odd to me to think of the Prince of Wales at a cat show! He does seem to have liked animals though.

[Mari]

Charming Photographs What does anyone know about the Parrot? Why ill tempered and foul mouthed?

George V's foul-mouthed, ill-tempered parrot Charlotte. Queen Mary wasn't too fond of this nasty bird and was probably relieved when she would accompany, as seen here, George V when he was overseas in France during WW1i

[Adagietto]

I fear that it had been taught to swear like a sailor. From my small experience of pet parrots, they are inclined to form a close attachment to one person and to be tetchy with everyone else. I knew a husband and wife who had two parrots over the years, the first one bonded with the wife and was beastly yo the husband, and the second bonded with the husband and was beastly to the wife! The trouble with parrots is, I suspect, that they are intelligent animals (by no means bird-brained) and therefore get bored and frustrated when they are kept in confinement. How can blame them for getting ill-tempered?

[grandduchessella]

It did have the manner of a quarterdeck sailor, probably much to the amusement of George V if not Queen Mary. The parrot was allowed to basically do whatever and wherever it wanted.

One story goes: ""George V hated to be parted from his pet parrot Charlotte. At Sandringham he would come to breakfast with the bird perched on his finger, then let her forage over the table. If Charlotte disgraced herself by making a mess the King would slide a mustard pot over it so that the Queen should not see it." "

[grandduchessella]

Queen Mary doesn't seem to have been fond of horses or dogs and was rarely photographed around one--I don't think I've ever seen her on horseback. She did have at least one family dog when she was a Teck Princess and was around them when she married George, but I don't think she herself owned one.

""Queen Mary was terrified of dogs, and lived in fear of the ferocious little Welsh corgis favoured by her granddaughter, the future Elizabeth II. At a Buckingham Palace garden party, Princess Elizabeth handed her a dog biscuit to give to the most ill-tempered of the corgis. Queen Mary in panic handed it on to her nearest neighbour, the Archbishop of Canterbury who, mistaking it for a teatime titbit, gratefully popped it into his mouth."

[Mari]

Well, I have to say I have loved all three of these Stories. Animals can be really funny and I am sure there have been some great ones with all the Royal Pets. 
 My Mother had a full blooded Dachshund who was very intelligent and determined to have her way. She loved food more than anything but
was put on a Diet.    Refusing to Diet, She developed new ploys to get food. One Evening my Mother was entertaining and  had a Cook- Out with Hot Dogs and Hamburgers. One of the Neighbors sat down in a lawn chair.  She talked waving her hand around and out of the Dark, the Dachshund running made a flying leap like a Basketball player... grabbed the Hot Dog in her teeth and ran with it. The Neighbor sat there speechless and said "Well" what was that?"

[Mari]

I found another story about Royal Pets:


During a formal dinner at Buckingham Palace one evening, a young British army officer observed Queen Elizabeth taking several dry biscuits from a plate on the table. He followed suit.

He was soon dismayed to discover that he had just helped himself to a large handful of dog biscuits intended for the royal corgis!

http://anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=6520

[Tdora1]

I believe Vicky was rather fond of cats although I don't know whether she kept any as pets. She described in a letter to QV a very upsetting incident with one of the groundkeepers at the NeuesPalais who had killed a cat she was fond of - this may have been one of a group of household/kitchen cats she would see on her walks and had enjoyed petting. QV was outraged - her anti-vivisection views and disgust of lenient treatment of animal cruelty by the law were well-known and forcefully expressed.

[grandduchessella]

The animal had been a pet of her recently deceased son Waldemar so she was not only repulsed by the senseless violence but tremendously grief-stricken at yet another lost link to her son.

[grandduchessella]

These are up for auction at Bonham's



Group lot of five leather Pug collars and one leather lead belonging to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor
i) narrow grey leather collar, bears name tag inscribed 'I belong/ to the/ Duke of/ Windsor' (recto) 'Blencathra/ Bell Boy/ (Thomas)' (verso), diameter 4 in. (10 cm.); ii) red leather collar with inscribed name plate 'Rookie', diameter 4 in. (10 cm.); iii) red leather collar with inscribed name plate 'Preesie', diameter 4 in. (10 cm.); iv & v) black leather collars, diameter each 6 in. (15 cm.); vi) lead narrow black with silver metal clasps at each end, length 33 in. (84 cm.)

Estimate: $2,000 - 3,000, £990 - 1,500

[grandduchessella]

Group lot of three woolen Pug coats
made for the dogs owned by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

Estimate: $1,500 - 2,500, £740 - 1,200

[grandduchessella]

Just got a photo of Queen Alexandra's cat 'Dick' who was a blue Persian. He was exhibited at some shows but not in competition. He actually was not a very good looking beast. 

[Emperor of the Dominions]

I can't believe the enormous estimates put on the dog collars and dog coat belonging to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Royal provinence not withstanding, surely one would only spend that amount of money on items useful to ones own person? I suppose there are some with more money than sense; the purchase of which would be a mere trifle!

R.I.