Peta urges King Charles to disown namesake spaniels

Tom McArdleSat, August 22, 2026 at 8:00 AM UTC

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King Charles Cavalier Spaniels are said to be particularly susceptible to serious health difficulties - Michael Stevens/Getty

Peta activists have urged the King to lend his weight to their cause and disown the breed of spaniel that bears his name.

In a letter to the monarch, the animal rights group called on the King to disassociate his name from the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel because of the breed’s “debilitating” health problems.

Peta said they suffer from “painful” conditions as a result of breeders desiring large eyes, short muzzles and round heads.

However, critics said Peta’s suggestion was “bizarre” and “nonsense”.

The breed has been a staple of royal life since the 17th century when Charles II was seldom seen without a pack of them at his heels.

Samuel Pepys, the wit and diarist, wrote of his annoyance that the spaniels would be allowed into council meetings and even his royal chambers.

The Duchess of Edinburgh with a Cavalier spaniel - Andrew Matthews/PA

But Ingrid Newkirk, the Peta president, has now called on the King to end centuries of tradition and cut ties with the dog to discourage further breeding.

In a letter sent to Buckingham Palace, she said generations of selective breeding had left it susceptible to serious health difficulties including neurological problems, difficulty walking and, in some cases, paralysis.

“The royal name, like the royal warrant, lends prestige to this beleaguered breed and helps make it desirable,” she wrote.

“That is why we most respectfully ask your majesty to call for ‘King Charles’ to be removed from the breed’s name and make clear that the monarchy does not wish to endorse the continued breeding of these dogs.

“Such words from you would send a powerful message that there is nothing noble about breeding dogs for exaggerated features that condemn generations of them to painful, debilitating disease.”

She claimed breeding for large eyes, shortened muzzles and small rounded heads had “come at a terrible cost”.

In some cases, she added, the skull is too small for the brain, causing brain tissue to be pushed through the opening at the back of the skull.

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The King and Queen with their Jack Russells Bluebell and Beth - Danny Lawson/PA

The King’s favourite dog is reported to be the Jack Russell. He and his wife adopted two of the breed, Bluebell and Beth, from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in 2017 and both featured as “girls in pearls” on the cover of the July 2022 issue of Country Life magazine.

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is a descendant of the line of small toy spaniel dogs that were ever-present in royal paintings from the 16th to 18th centuries.

The breed gets its name from both Charles II and his supporters, the Cavaliers, from the English Civil War.

Sir John Hayes, a senior Tory, said Peta’s suggestion was “nonsense”.

He told The Telegraph: “The King Charles Cavalier Spaniel has been a much-loved dog breed for generations.

“As someone who identifies with both the King and Cavaliers, I would be delighted to oppose this strange suggestion.”

Sir John, the chairman of the Common Sense group of MPs, added: “They should be focusing on the real problem, not this kind of nonsense.

“It’s absolutely true dog breeding should be responsible and sensible but I’m not sure that’s anything to do with it being named after the cavaliers and the King. I think it’s a bizarre suggestion and it doesn’t do the cause of safe dog breeding any good.

“On that basis we’d be renaming all dogs and all kinds of dogs that have developed these kinds of issues. Where does that begin and end? It’s making something serious into a nonsense.”

Michael Levy, the chairman of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club, said the breed was a popular family dog because of their “fantastic, friendly temperament and easy maintenance routine”.

He told The Telegraph: “The average life span for a Cavalier according to Royal Kennel Club statistics is 11 years old – considerably older than many pure-bred breeds.

“The current narrative from some quarters that all Cavaliers are a sick is totally untrue as many have long active lives.”

He added that many preservation breeders were only breeding from the “healthiest stock possible”.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”