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Noble Hounds and Dear Companions: The Royal Photograph Collection
A celebration of the four-footed friends who have played so great a role in the public life and private lives of the Royal Family, from Queen Victoria to the present day.
Paintings and works of art from the Royal collection complete the story, and the book is brought up to date with the famous Welsh corgis - such as Dookie, Her Majesty The Queen's first corgi from whom all of The Queen's corgis are descended.
Paintings and works of art from the Royal collection complete the story, and the book is brought up to date with the famous Welsh corgis - such as Dookie, Her Majesty The Queen's first corgi from whom all of The Queen's corgis are descended.
124 pages, Hardcover
First published November 25, 2007
65 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 6, 2020
How could I not love this book? Dogs and monarchy! What more can I say? Pets of the Royal Family are shown from Queen Victoria onward. The photographs are simply delightful. Most of the pets are dogs, but there are some cats also. This would be a lovely coffee-table-type gift for anyone who loves monarchy and dogs. I was particularly moved when I saw pictures of Princess Alex of Hesse, who later married and became the last Tsarina of Russia.
This was painted in the early years of Queen Victoria’s marriage to Prince Albert, with their infant Princess Royal and four of the royal dogs.
Here, Queen Victoria sits with members of her family and one of her pugs at Balmoral in 1887. Princess Alix of Hesse (1872-1918) is standing behind her smiling. She was the Queen’s granddaughter and future Tsarina of Russia.
Princess Elizabeth holds the Royal family's beloved pet Corgis, Jane and Dookie at her London home on July 1936.
This was painted in the early years of Queen Victoria’s marriage to Prince Albert, with their infant Princess Royal and four of the royal dogs.
Here, Queen Victoria sits with members of her family and one of her pugs at Balmoral in 1887. Princess Alix of Hesse (1872-1918) is standing behind her smiling. She was the Queen’s granddaughter and future Tsarina of Russia.
Princess Elizabeth holds the Royal family's beloved pet Corgis, Jane and Dookie at her London home on July 1936.
November 17, 2024
As book productions go, this volume is first-rate with superb photographs wonderfully reproduced and all printed on fine quality paper. And in addition it is extremely well written and contains tremendously interesting facts.
Dogs have always played an important part in the lives of the Royal Family and once photography was developed they often took centre stage in many of the Royal photographs. And it is not surprising therefore that almost half this book is taken up with portraits of Queen Victoria's vast assortment of dogs, beginning with Landseer's charming portrait of Dash, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that was given to Princess Victoria as a birthday present from her mother, the Duchess of Kent, in 1833.
And in the early years of Victoria's marriage Landseer is to the forefront once more as in his painting 'Windsor Castle in Modern Times' he features four of the Royal dogs, Eos, Islay, Cairnach and the quaintly named Dandie Dimmont in the Green Room at the castle. Of course Victoria, Prince Albert and the young Princess Royal are looking proudly on.
One breed that Victoria favoured and quickly became a favourite elsewhere when she acquired her first was the Pomeranian. She acquired her first, Marco, when in Italy in 1888 and she quickly added two more, Lina and Beppo. And Beppo was one of the dogs shown at Crufts in 1891. Victoria also had fox terriers with three of them, Spot, Gay Girl and Wat, regularly appearing in family group photographs.
As for King Edward VII, one of his terriers Caesar outlived him and even walked behind his coffin at the King's funeral. The King's daughter Princess Victoria of Wales had a favourite poodle, Sammy, who was something of a trickster and there is a photograph of him showing one of his acrobatic tricks when he is standing on the back of two back-to-back chairs holding a cane in his mouth. Sadly he met an unfortunate end when he accidentally ate some rat poison.
George V's favourite Cairn terrier Snip, who often went swimming in Loch Muick when the King went wading, had a particular friendship with the King's parrot Charlotte and often spent his time watching the parrot walk about the forecourt.
George VI introduced his daughters Elizabeth and Margaret to his yellow Labrador, Glen when they were young and there is an unusual photograph of Margaret sitting on the steps at Birkhall in Deesidein 1933 when she is surrounded by six dogs of different breeds. And Corgis were integrated into the Royal family and Elizabeth's early favourites were Dookie and Jane, pictured with the future Queen along with three yellow Labradors, Mimsy, Stiffy and Scruffy, in 1936.
To end, there are portraits of a couple of cats, Peter and Snowdrop, in Victorian times and there are portraits of John Brown with the Victoria's collie Sharp plus ghillie Francis Clark calling Noble, Fern and Waldman to attention as though they were naughty schoolchildren while Millie, a French poodle, who was a gift to the Prince of Wales in 1854 from Lord Paget, who was the Queen's Chief Equerry and Clerk-Marshall, looks particularly cute.
'Noble Hounds and Dear Companions' is a most pleasurable book and one that can be enjoyed browsing on future occasions.
Dogs have always played an important part in the lives of the Royal Family and once photography was developed they often took centre stage in many of the Royal photographs. And it is not surprising therefore that almost half this book is taken up with portraits of Queen Victoria's vast assortment of dogs, beginning with Landseer's charming portrait of Dash, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that was given to Princess Victoria as a birthday present from her mother, the Duchess of Kent, in 1833.
And in the early years of Victoria's marriage Landseer is to the forefront once more as in his painting 'Windsor Castle in Modern Times' he features four of the Royal dogs, Eos, Islay, Cairnach and the quaintly named Dandie Dimmont in the Green Room at the castle. Of course Victoria, Prince Albert and the young Princess Royal are looking proudly on.
One breed that Victoria favoured and quickly became a favourite elsewhere when she acquired her first was the Pomeranian. She acquired her first, Marco, when in Italy in 1888 and she quickly added two more, Lina and Beppo. And Beppo was one of the dogs shown at Crufts in 1891. Victoria also had fox terriers with three of them, Spot, Gay Girl and Wat, regularly appearing in family group photographs.
As for King Edward VII, one of his terriers Caesar outlived him and even walked behind his coffin at the King's funeral. The King's daughter Princess Victoria of Wales had a favourite poodle, Sammy, who was something of a trickster and there is a photograph of him showing one of his acrobatic tricks when he is standing on the back of two back-to-back chairs holding a cane in his mouth. Sadly he met an unfortunate end when he accidentally ate some rat poison.
George V's favourite Cairn terrier Snip, who often went swimming in Loch Muick when the King went wading, had a particular friendship with the King's parrot Charlotte and often spent his time watching the parrot walk about the forecourt.
George VI introduced his daughters Elizabeth and Margaret to his yellow Labrador, Glen when they were young and there is an unusual photograph of Margaret sitting on the steps at Birkhall in Deesidein 1933 when she is surrounded by six dogs of different breeds. And Corgis were integrated into the Royal family and Elizabeth's early favourites were Dookie and Jane, pictured with the future Queen along with three yellow Labradors, Mimsy, Stiffy and Scruffy, in 1936.
To end, there are portraits of a couple of cats, Peter and Snowdrop, in Victorian times and there are portraits of John Brown with the Victoria's collie Sharp plus ghillie Francis Clark calling Noble, Fern and Waldman to attention as though they were naughty schoolchildren while Millie, a French poodle, who was a gift to the Prince of Wales in 1854 from Lord Paget, who was the Queen's Chief Equerry and Clerk-Marshall, looks particularly cute.
'Noble Hounds and Dear Companions' is a most pleasurable book and one that can be enjoyed browsing on future occasions.
August 29, 2018
A short picture volume on the dogs (and a few cats) of the British Royal Family. In honor of International Dog Day, this was promoted and I am rather glad to see it because it is full of wonderful pictures. There is some sentimental history in those pages, especially when you see pictures of certain people like Alix of Hesse. Mostly I enjoyed seeing how much the breeds of have changed in appearance and the expressions that were captured when the subject was forced to sit so still for a period of time.
August 5, 2017
This was a free pdf download from the Royal Collection website. Not all of the pictures were in it, but enough were there. Nicely done. Simple and straightforward. Always good to see the personal side of people in authority.
July 16, 2025
Lucky to find this book at Goodwill, loved it!
August 8, 2010
This slender book from the UK's Royal Collection looks at the pets of England's royalty through photographs and paintings. Most of them are dogs, but there are a few cats here and there. It's a delight to go through, and I'm certain that many of us will recognize the emotions that the sitters and their pets are experiencing.
For the more complete review, please go here:
http://www.epinions.com/content_41014...
For the more complete review, please go here:
http://www.epinions.com/content_41014...
June 18, 2010
A wonderfully pictorial book from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II that shows just how much the English Royal Family love their dogs (and a few cats as well). Page 42 Spot, a fox terrier put a smile on my face.
February 25, 2011
Another terrific photo book (old photos) of mostly dogs, in this cases owned by mostly Royals.
December 29, 2011
Lovely book of the pets of royals from Queen Victoria onwards. Includes plenty of historic pictures from the royal collection.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews