Famous Cavalier Lovers
Celebrity Cavalier Lovers
Did
you catch the recent guest appearance of a Blenheim Cavalier King
Charles
Spaniel on the Ellen DeGeneres
show? Ellen was showcasing unique dog
breeds in connection with the Westminster dog show!
Diane Sawyer, host of Good
Morning America, and her husband Mike Nicols own a tricolor
female Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Brinklow La Bamba Lila.
Amanda Bynes reputedly named her
Blenheim Cavalier Midge after her "What I Like About You" alter ego.
Teri Hatcher
owns both Blenheim and Tricolor Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.
Courtney Cox
and husband David Arquette own
two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels named Harley and Hooper. Courtney is
quoted in a June 2003 interview as saying "They bring me so
much joy… It makes me so happy when I'm lying in bed and look over and
see my husband, two little dogs… I don't think I can be happier than
this."
Liv Tyler's
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is named Neal.
Jennifer Love Hewitt
owns a Blenheim named Charlie. Play the video below of her interview on
The Ellen Degeneres show, in which she mentions Charlie.
On
the TV series Sex and the City,
Charlotte York (played by actress Kristin Davis) adopted a Blenheim
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy which she renamed Elizabeth Taylor
Goldenblatt.
Princess Margaret,
sister of Queen Elizabeth II, is another
Cavalier King Charles lover. Rowley was her Cavalier companion for many
years.
Lauren Bacall
owned a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel aptly named Blenheim. Though
now gone, a painting of Blenheim still graces Ms. Bacall’s living room.
Other celebrities that have owned Cavalier King
Charles Spaniels include Sylvester
Stallone, Frank Sinatra,
American Idol Katherine McPhee
and President Ronald Reagan.
Mickey Rooney recently summed it up for all Cavalier lovers when
he was quoted as saying "We have a
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Sir Digby.
No matter how hectic life gets, we know when we get home our precious
little companion is there with loving eyes waiting for us."
Cavalier Lovers in
History
Mary
Queen of Scots
went to her beheading in 1587 with a black
and white toy spaniel under her skirts. Her beloved companion reputedly
refused
to leave her side and died from grief a few days after her death.
Mary's trusted pet was probably an earlier forerunner of the Cavalier
Spaniel. King Charles I was devoted to his
toy spaniel
Rogue, who accompanied Charles to his execution in 1649.
King Charles II
was known as the 'Cavalier King.' Charles is
credited with having a number of little spaniels about him wherever he
went, to
the point where others at court complained. In
Charles’ time, it was proclaimed that no
public building could be
designated as “off limits” to a spaniel, including Parliament.
James II,
brother of Charles II, was equally infatuated with
toy spaniels. During a severe storm at sea, James is reputed to have
shouted
“Save the dogs and the Duke of Monmouth [the king’s son]!”
John Churchill, the
1st Duke of Marlborough
raised toy "Malborough Spaniels" at Blenheim Castle,
giving rise to the term “Blenheim” used today for the chestnut and
white
Cavalier Spaniel puppies.
The Duchess of
Marlborough is credited with imprinting the characteristic ‘lozenge’ or
thumbprint mark on the top
of the
Blenheim Spaniel’s head. As the story goes, she rubbed a pregnant
spaniel’s head
with her thumb out of worry for her husband while he was in France,
leading his troups to victory against Louis XIV at the
battle of Blenheim.
Dash
was the name of Queen Victoria’s
beloved tricolor spaniel. Dash’s
tombstone is inscribed with the following message written by the Queen
herself:
"Here lies Dash, the favorite spaniel of
Her Majesty Queen Victoria, by whose command this memorial was erected.
He died
on the 20th December 1840 in his ninth year. 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.”
Cavalier
King Charles Spaniels were clearly the
model for the “Staffordshires”
pottery dogs made in England
from the late 1850s until the 1930s.
Is a Cavalier King
Charles Spaniel the right dog for you?
