Dash (Spaniel)

Dash ( * 1830, † 1840) was a King Charles Spaniel owned by Queen Victoria. Elizabeth Longford referred to him as " the closest childhood friend of the Queen " and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, he is described as " the first in a long line of beloved little dogs ."

Life

He came as a gift from Sir John Conroy at Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent, on 14 January 1833 in the household of the Duchess. End of April 1833, he was already Victoria's companion and at Christmas of the same year she was so fond of him that she gave him for Christmas a number of rubber balls and two pieces of gingerbread. In return, Dash Victoria was loyal; once they went on a yacht sailing, and Dash jumped off the coast into the sea and swam after her.

Victoria, who was 13 when Dash came into the household, had in their childhood few or no friends, since it was largely isolated from other children. This was an action under the so-called Kensington system, which was developed by Conroy to keep Victoria from other influences, thereby strengthening his own position. The only girl of a similar age, with which the princess had regular contact was Conroy 's youngest daughter, Victoire, but it seems to have given only a formal acquaintance. In her diary, Victoria Victoire called Miss Conroy, while the dog was showered with affection: "dear sweet little Dash " and "dear Dashy ".

In November 1834 Victoria and her mother made ​​a holiday in St. Leonards- on-Sea. The Duchess, Victoria with Dash, Lady Flora Hastings and Baroness Louise Lehzen took a landau, which was pulled by two horses, which got caught in a track and fell. The horses were fighting on the floor, and there was a danger that the car tipped over and the women had been injured. Victoria crawled with Dash in the arms out of the car and, as she recalled, " ran with it in my arms, called mom to follow me, Lehzen and Lady Flora followed us as well." While two passing by men cut the horses free, fled the ladies and Dash behind a wall.

Dash remained even after their accession to the throne in 1837 at Victoria. After her coronation on June 28, 1838 Victoria returned to Buckingham Palace, and ran to her room to bathe Dash as usual.

Dash died at the end of the year 1840 and was buried at Windsor Cottage Home Park near Adelaide. The marble effigy, which was erected over the grave, bears the inscription:

" Here lies DASH The favorite spaniel of Her Majesty Queen Victoria in his 10th year His attachment which without selfishness His playfulness without malice His fidelity without deceit READER If you would be beloved and regretted the profit by the example of DASH "

"Here lies DASH, the Favourite Spaniel of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, in his 10th year. His attachment was without selfishness, his cheerfulness, without malice, his fidelity without deceit. READER, you want to be loved and mourned die, so heed Dash's example. "