Life
For decades — centuries, even — people have been obsessed with royalty. But what are actual royals obsessed with? The answer is clear: dogs. And we're not just talking about Queen Elizabeth II and her well-known (not to mention adorable) love of Corgis, either. Take a stroll through any major art museum and you'll see portrait after portrait of kings and queens posed with austere-looking pups on their laps. One might expect that these noble pets would have correspondingly dignified titles, but on the contrary: Some of the most famous royal puppy names have been seriously silly.
Maybe you've got palace-dwelling doggos on the brain because of the recent, very sad passing of Queen Elizabeth's last remaining Corgi, who suffered from a cancer-related illness, according to People. Or perhaps you're contemplating getting a pup of your own and want to give that little furball a name fit for a prince or princess. Or maybe you're just one of those aforementioned people who's obsessed with royalty and can't get enough of this particular breed of gossip. Whatever the reason for your interest, you're bound to be surprised by some of these posh pooch names.
Why do royals love dogs so much? Well, the answer, again, is clear: Because (as you always suspected), the royals are just like you.
1Lupo
Kate Middleton and Prince William chose an appropriately canine name for their black Cocker Spaniel: Lupo is the Italian word for wolf. However, royal officials said "There is no significance in it apart from they liked the name," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
2Widgeon
Long before Lupo came on the scene, Prince William got his very first dog: A black Labrador named Widgeon, The Daily Beast reported.
3Tigga
A faithful companion to Prince Charles for 18 years, his Jack Russell terrier Tigga was given to him as a puppy by Lady Salisbury, according to The Telegraph.
4Susan
Nearly 80 years ago, Harper's Bazaar noted, Queen Elizabeth II got her very first Corgi, Susan, as a birthday present. The Queen loved Susan so much that she bred her direct line of descendants for decades.
5Choo-Choo
Princess Margaret had plenty of dogs growing up, too, according to Bark Post, including a grey and white Tibetan Lion named Choo-Choo.
6Dookie
As Bark Post also explained, the royal fascination with Corgis was kicked off by King George VI in 1933, when he brought a Corgi named Dookie home from a local kennel. He was apparently an immediate hit with the princesses!
7Willow
Queen Elizabeth's Corgi Willow, the last descendent of Susan, passed away on April 14 at the age of nearly 15 years, the Daily Mail reported. The Queen was said to have been hit "extremely hard" by the loss, with one Buckingham Palace source quoted as saying:
"She has mourned every one of her corgis over the years, but she has been more upset about Willow’s death than any of them. It is probably because Willow was the last link to her parents and a pastime that goes back to her own childhood. It really does feel like the end of an era."
8Noble
Queen Victoria was likewise particularly fond of her Collie named Noble, according to The Daily Beast. When the dog died in 1887, he was even given his own gravestone on the castle grounds which read:
"Noble by name, by nature noble too/Faithful companion sympathetic true/His remains are interred here."
9Dash
As much as Queen Victoria clearly loved Noble, historians have suggested that her favorite dog ever was a King Charles Spaniel named Dash, as Bark Post explained. She even had her portrait painted with the pet when she was a teenager.
10Turi
Still more fun Queen Victoria-related dog facts: The royal is actually known as "one of the founders of the Pomeranian breed as we know it today," according to an article on Little Things (the dogs were typically larger before she started breeding them, apparently). And while at one point she had 35 (!) of the dogs, the most special Pomeranian was called Turi. The Queen even asked for him on her deathbed.
11Caesar
King Edward VII’s terrier Caesar was such a devoted dog that he even walked behind his owner's coffin in the funeral cortege when the King passed away, The Daily Beast reported.
12Pharos
Another member of Queen Elizabeth's Corgi family, Pharos was perhaps the unluckiest: The dog was attacked by Princess Anne’s bull terrier Dotty in 2003 and had to be put down, the Daily Mail reported.
13Cora
How much did Edward VIII love his dog Cora? So much that, according to The New York Times, the eventual Duke of Windsor ''not only had steps built for his favorite cairn, Cora, when she could no longer jump on his bed, but ordered spectacles for her in order to counter the effects of altitude when flying.''
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