“Dear little Dash”: Queen Victoria’s childhood companion

Tomorrow (26th August 2025) is international dog day so it only seems right to celebrate by talking about Queen Victoria’s childhood companion, Dash.

‘A beautiful spaniel of King Charles’s breed,’ Dash first entered Princess (later Queen) Victoria’s life on 14th January 1833 when he was given to her mother, the Duchess of Kent, by her advisor, Sir John Conroy. In her journal dated the 15th January, the Princess writes that ‘little Dash is perfection, he is already much attached to Mamma and lies always at her feet’. However, Dash’s attachment to the Duchess soon diverted toward the spritely young princess, who regularly played ball with the playful, three year old, pup, causing him to bound ‘on all four to run after it’ before bringing it back with a full gallop.

Due to the strict Kensington System, Victoria, now thirteen, had grown up isolated from other children. So, it’s no surprise that she filled with joy when the curl covered pooch moved into the Palace. For the first time Victoria had a permanent companion; and while he wasn’t human, she could play freely without restriction. ‘Dear little Dashy is quite my playfellow,’ she wrote on 14th March, ‘ he is so fond of playing at ball, and of barking and jumping. He is a great deal with me’.

By the beginning of February the two had become near enough inseparable, with ‘Dear little Dashy was with us’ becoming a regular phrase amongst her diary entries. Not only did Dash accompany Victoria and her governess, Baroness Lehzen, on walks in the gardens, but he also joined the princess on excursions, attending dinners and on holidays. Victoria particularly noted Dash’s fondness for the sea during their trip to the Isle of Wight in 1833. ‘This morning when Mamma went into the barge with Charles, she left Dash with one of the footmen,’ she writes on 4th July, adding ‘he [Dash] instantly plunged into the sea & swam at least ten yards after the boat’.

Nineteen days later, the now fourteen-year-old princess writes of her time by the waterside with three dogs: Neptune, Bijou and Dash. Following in the footsteps of his namesake, Neptune was happy swimming far out into the ocean, while Dash and Bijou made a game of being thrown into the water and swimming straight back to shore.

Wanting to recognise Victoria’s attachment to her beloved spaniel, Sir John Conroy commissioned George Morley to create ‘a very pretty’ life size portrait of him, which was presented to the Princess on her fourteenth birthday on 24th May 1833. Victoria was much pleased with the painting, however Dash sat for Morley once more in 1836 when adjustments were made to the painting.

Victoria’s birthday in 1833 was the first of many celebrations to include Dash. The celebrate the Duchess’s birthday on 17th August ‘Dear Dashy’ entered the room with ‘a wreath around his neck from which hung a little basket full of flowers and adorned with ribbons’. It wasn’t just humans that received gifts, Dash, too, was given an array of gifts for his first Christmas in the Kent household. His included ‘a basin of bread and milk, three Indian-rubber balls, and two bits of gingerbread,’ which had been carefully laid out and displayed beneath a decorated tree, and ‘surrounded with branches of holly and candles’.

Like many devoted pets, Dash’s love for Victoria ran deep. While he was generally a quiet and composed dog, he could at times get possessive of his owner, occasionally resulting in him biting other dogs and people. This was particularly worsened when Victoria ascended the British throne in June 1837. As always, Dash remained by Victoria’s side and the new Queen famously bathed her beloved dog immediately after her coronation in 1838. However, with Victoria’s new position came an influx of change, with many new faces joining the Royal household and visiting their new home, Buckingham Palace. It’s no surprise that all the hustle and bustle caused poor little Dash to become disoriented; after all, he was used to their old, much quieter apartments at Kensington. Aged just eighteen, Victoria was determined that she must see her ministers alone, however Dash was the exception. At first Dash had been apprehensive of Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, but soon he had become comfortable in his presence, often running ‘up to Lord Melbourne with the greatest friendliness’ and licking his hand. There are also accounts of Dash lying at Melbourne’s feet. Knowing her pet’s dislike for strangers, even Victoria found herself surprised by Dash’s affection.

There are many occasions throughout Dash’s life where Victoria notes him being unwell and spending time at the ‘dog doctor’. While I can’t find any accounts of what these health issues were, there is an entry in Victorias diary, dated 9th January 1839, where she mentions Lord Melbourne accusing Dash ‘of having crooked legs, which I [Victoria] wouldn’t allow’. Determined to prove Dash’s good health, the Queen then had him placed on the table so he could be petted and admired. Perhaps it was a joint condition that had ailed Dash for so many years? Unfortunately we will never know for sure. Nonetheless, just eight months later Victoria writes that Dash had returned from the vets after almost a month away.

Now Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, married to her German cousin, Prince Albert, and a mother to their first child, Victoria no longer relied on Dash as much as she once had. On Christmas Eve 1840, it was Prince Albert that had the difficult task of breaking the news of Dash’s death. In her journal she wrote: ‘Albert told me that poor dear old “Dash” was dead, which grieved me so much. I was so fond of the poor little fellow, & he was so attached to me’. While Victoria doesn’t write of it in her journal, Dash was later buried at Adelaide Cottage in Windsor Great Park. A marble effigy was placed over his grave with an inscription, which reads:

Here lies
DASH
The favourite spaniel of Her Majesty Queen Victoria
In his 10th year
His attachment was without selfishness
His playfulness without malice
His fidelity without deceit
READER
If you would be beloved and die regretted
Profit by the example of
DASH

© Queen.Victoria.Roses 2025

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