The charming Cavalier King Charles Spaniel can trace his ancestors back to the small toy spaniels that are found in many paintings of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Such dogs were favorites of royalty and nobles of the day and because of this many were depicted with their owners and with children, making for some delightful family groups. The first portrait in England that depicts the breed is one of Queen Mary I with her husband, Philip of Spain, accompanied by a pair of small spaniels lying at their feet. It was painted in 1554 by Antonio Moro. Well-respected artists such as Titian, Van Dyck, Stubbs, Gainsborough and Reynolds all showed similar small dogs with flat heads, high-set ears and slightly pointed noses.
The devotion of the Cavalier is legendary as it was a little black and white toy spaniel that hid beneath the skirts of Mary Queen of Scots at her execution in 1587. Even after her death, it would not leave its dead mistress for it was recorded, “Then one of the executioners, pulling off her garters, espied her little dogg which was crept under her clothes which could not be gotten forth but by force, yet afterwards would not depart from the dead corpse, but came and lay between her head and her shoulders…”
Sir Edwin Landseer was the artist of choice for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, for whom he painted a series of portraits depicting court life at Windsor. From 1845, this famous Landseer painting is entitledCavalier’s Pets.
During Tudor times (1485–1603) these small spaniels were highly popular as ladies’ pets and under the House of Stuart (1603–1714) they were actually given the name King Charles Spaniels. King Charles I was accompanied by a small spaniel when he was a fugitive at Carisbrook Castle. After he had been executed, his dog, Rogue, was paraded around the city by a Roundhead, though the fate of the little dog is not known. But it was really thanks to King Charles II that the breed took its name.
A great lover of these dogs, Charles II was almost always seen with some of his small canine friends at his heels. The famous diarist Samuel Pepys made many references to them, showing dismay that the King played all the while with his dogs rather than minding business affairs. The King even decreed that these spaniels were to be allowed in any public place, including the Houses of Parliament.
James II was another king reputed to be fond of the breed, and there is record of him giving orders during a bad sea storm that the men were to “save the dogs! … and the Duke of Monmouth!” One can only wonder if there was any significance in his mentioning the dogs before the Duke! Undoubtedly spaniels of this kind were much in favor in many of the European courts, but although the red and white variety bred at Blenheim Palace retained its popularity, the others seemed to go somewhat out of fashion. This was thanks largely to the accession to the throne of William and Mary, who highly favored Pugs.
SPANISH ORIGINS
Some people believe that all spaniels originated in Spain and that they actually took their name from the word “espagñol,” which means Spanish. It is also believed that the black Truffle Dog may lie behind black and tan colored Cavaliers.
The merry toy spaniels that had scampered about the palaces and had appeared on numerous state occasions were, it might be said, demoted by the House of Orange. The Pugs smugly took their place. Some believe that it was because of the newfound popularity of the Pug that some enthusiasts of King Charles Spaniels decided that a certain change in the breed’s features would perhaps be an improvement.
During the early years of the
