Charles I’s dedication to the English Toy Spaniel (called the King Charles Spaniel in the UK) was a Stuart family tradition: His son Charles II, his daughter Henrietta, and his second son, James II, all kept kennels of the small spaniels, each developing a distinctive type.Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, continued the connection between royalty and the English Toy Spaniel by attending Princess Anne’s tenth birthday party with her dog, “Rolly,” in 1960. Elizabeth II has also owned these Spaniels in addition to the dogs most frequently associated with her, the Pembroke Welsh Corgi.

Image: From the 19th century, American school oil on canvas of an adolescent child formally posed with an English toy spaniel in an interior setting.