BEHOLD! THE CAVALIER KING CHARLES SPANIEL By Stephanie Abraham N o other breed of pure- bred dog has evolved amidst more drama than the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Small in size, gentle in
In 1649, the unfortunate Charles I is reputed to have lost his head to the executioner’s blade with his little spaniel dog “Rogue” under his robe—the ulti- mate “conforter spaniel.” His son and successor, Charles II, was besotted with the breed, and his dogs roamed freely throughout his palaces. Th e diarist John Evelyn stated “He took delight in having a number of little spaniels follow him and lie in his bed chamber, where he su ff ered the bitches to puppy…” At his bedside when he died there were about a dozen Cavaliers. Charles’ brother, James II, con- tinued the royal love a ff air with the toy spaniels, some immortalized in the art of Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Titian, and Gainsborough—and later Maud Earl, Fragonard, Stubbs, and Landseer. Th e fi rst illustrated edition of Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” featured a small spaniel dog. James resumed the breeding of those animals Charles left behind. Th e reign of William and Mary began in 1689. Th ey were not particularly enam- ored of the toy spaniel, and favored the pug. However, the little spaniels still fl ourished as lady’s pets and were kept
nature, with a most sweet and appealing expression, toy spaniels were not uncom- mon in European court society in the 15th century. In 1486 Dame Juliana Ber- ners wrote a monograph called “ Th e Boke of St. Albans” where she included in a list of dog breeds “small ladyes puppees that beare awaye the fl ees…” Th e palace physician to Queen Elizabeth I (reigned 1558-1603) called these small Spaniels “delicate, neat, and pretty kind of dogs, called the Spaniel comforter… Th ese dogs are… pretty, proper, and fi ne, and sought for to satisfy the delicateness of dainty dames.” (De Canibus Britannicus, 1570). But nowhere has the Cavalier been more adored and reviled as by the English monarchs Charles I and Charles II, who championed these little dogs—and their courtiers who often found them repulsive and unsanitary even by dubious seven- teenth century health standards.
popular by Mary’s sister, Henrietta. Th e apocryphal story of Sarah, the Duchess of Marlborough, is often cited—she allegedly pushed her thumb repeatedly on top of the head of her little red and white span- iel while nervously waiting for news of her husband fi ghting at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704—therefore identifying the famous ‘Blenheim spot’ still desired among breed- ers today. Queen Victoria had a cherished pet tricolor named Dash who was with her at her coronation in 1838. After 1840, despite Queen Victoria’s love of the breed, the Cavalier type of toy spaniel began to fall out of favor in Brit- ain. It was supplanted by a shorter muzzled, domed headed variation with low set ears, antithetical to the longer muzzled, fl atter skulled Cavalier. Leighton’s 1907 New Book of the Dog referred to the more extreme type as “goggle-eyed, pug nosed, pampered little peculiarities.” Th ey were known as King Charles spaniels and remain a sepa- rate breed today. It is likely that breeders after 1850 may have included pugs in their breeding programs, to achieve the desired short muzzle much faster. Th e fortunes of the Cavalier and the King Charles spaniels
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