The Queen’s love of the Pembrokeshire corgi is legendary. On her 18th birthday, her father gave her a corgi named Susan, and since then every royal corgi (more than 30 of them) descended from her original pet. In 2018, after her last corgi died, the Queen decided to stop breeding corgis due to her age, but when her gamekeeper died, she decided to adopt his corgi that she had been dog-walking for the last two years.
The Queen also has dorgis – a cross between a corgi and a dachshund. The royal dogs have their own room, and food specially prepared by a chef, but the Queen feeds them personally at 5pm sharp each day and walks them herself.
Of course, the royal family members are often given exotic animals as pets when on their international visits. Prince Philip was once given a pair of pygmy hippopotami as a gift from President Tubman of Liberia. The Prince sent them on permanent loan to London Zoo! He was also given a baby elephant when visiting Sri Lanka, which also found a forever home at London Zoo.
William and Kate have carried on the royal tradition of owning a dog: a black cocker spaniel named Lupo. However, Prince George caused something of a scandal when he was photographed offering Lupo a lick of his ice cream (not considered good for dogs). The Cambridges also have a pet hamster, said to be a great favourite with Princess Charlotte because the whiskers tickle her face.
Meghan was said to be broken-hearted at having to leave her beloved rescue lab Bogart in Canada, as he was too old to settle in a new home. But she brought her other rescued pooch, a beagle named Guy, with her. It’s rumoured that the Sussexes have recently welcomed another dog into the family, this time a Labrador retriever. Beagles and retrievers both shed their hair readily, so regular grooming is important.
It caused a bit of a scandal when Prince Charles admitted that he preferred Labradors to the traditional royal corgi as a breed, but he’s owned several in his time. One beloved lab, Tigga, lived to be 18 years old, before dying in 2002.
Camilla is also a fan of rescue dogs, owning two Jack Russells she adopted from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.
Best known for her love of horses – Princess Anne competed for Great Britain at the 1972 Olympics – the princess also own bulldogs. Known as a tough and hardy breed, bulldogs are strong and loyal, and the princess can often be seen walking them herself. The Princess Royal is no stranger to unusual pets either. In 1956, she was given a three-month-old bear cub by Russian President Nikita Khrushchev. The cub was named Nikki, presumably after the president himself.
As the Princess Royal’s daughter, it’s hardly surprising that Zara Tindall inherited her mum’s love of horses, and she too represented Great Britain in the Olympics, winning a silver medal at London 2012. Although not strictly a pet, Zara was devoted to her horse Toytown, and they won many equestrian events together. When he died in 2017 at the age of 24, Zara herself said she was “heartbroken.”
You might think it would be a brave royal who preferred cats to dogs, but Princess Michael (while owning dogs and horses), has a deep love of cats. She owns several Siamese and Burmese cats, as well as supporting rhino and elephant conservation organisations in Africa.
This article first appeared on Reader’s Digest.