Prince William, Kate, and Orla: The 150-Year Royal Habit of Keeping Dogs Close

Prince William will one day inherit palaces, estates, and centuries of royal responsibility. Yet one part of his home life sounds familiar to almost any dog owner. Orla, the black English cocker spaniel he shares with Catherine, sleeps on their bed.

William revealed that detail during a visit to Cornwall in October 2024. It was a small comment, but it placed Orla exactly where royal dogs have often been for generations: close to the family, inside the private rooms, and far beyond the role of a decorative pet.

The British royal family dogs seen today belong to a pattern that reaches back far beyond 150 years. Queen Victoria’s spaniel Dash was already being drawn in 1834. That puts almost two centuries between Dash and the Wales family’s current dogs, Orla and Otto. The breeds have changed. The cameras have changed. The habit has not.

The Dog Who Joined William and Kate Before a Loss

Orla was born in 2020 from a litter bred by Catherine’s younger brother, James Middleton. His dog Luna had six puppies, and Orla became part of William and Catherine’s household later that year.

She arrived before the death of Lupo, the couple’s first black cocker spaniel. Lupo had joined them around the time of their 2011 marriage and lived through the births of Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.

When William and Catherine announced Lupo’s death in November 2020, they said he had been “at the heart of our family for the past nine years.” That wording explained why the loss mattered. Lupo had not simply lived on a royal estate. He had grown alongside the family.

Orla continued that role. Her name became public in May 2022 when she appeared beside Princess Charlotte in photographs released for Charlotte’s seventh birthday. Two months later, she joined William and Catherine at the Royal Charity Polo Cup near Windsor.

She returned in another birthday photograph for Charlotte in 2023, then appeared in the family film released on September 9, 2024, when Catherine announced that she had completed chemotherapy.

These were family moments rather than formal royal duties. That distinction is important. Orla’s public value comes from the fact that she appears when the Waleses allow people to see their home life.

Otto Makes It a Family Line

In 2025, Orla gave birth to a litter of puppies. William and Catherine kept one brown male puppy.

The younger dog appeared with Orla in the family portrait released on April 29, 2026, for the couple’s 15th wedding anniversary. Two days later, the Waleses introduced him by name.

“Welcome to the family, Otto! 1 today,” they wrote on May 1, 2026. The announcement confirmed that Otto had been born on May 1, 2025. As of July 2026, Orla and Otto are the two publicly confirmed dogs in the Wales household.

Their daily life sounds less polished than their photographs. Catherine said the family’s first question in the morning is whether anyone has taken Otto outside. William later joked that Orla and Otto will chew slippers and anything else left on the floor.

The details are ordinary, which is exactly why they stand out. A future king may have staff, security, and historic homes, but someone still has to take the dog out.

Queen Victoria’s Dash Started the Recorded Story Earlier

The royal habit of keeping dogs close can be documented at least as far back as the young Queen Victoria. A drawing of Dash dated February 9, 1834, survives in the Royal Collection. Two years later, on May 23, 1836, the Duchess of Kent gave Victoria a painting of the spaniel by Sir Edwin Landseer, one day before Victoria’s 17th birthday.

The surviving record of Dash shows that the dog was not an anonymous animal in the background. He was named, painted, described, and remembered.

Victoria later kept many breeds with Prince Albert, including greyhounds, collies, dachshunds, terriers, and spaniels. Their dogs appeared in commissioned paintings and early photographs, often beside family members.

Prince Albert brought his greyhound Eos to Britain when he married Victoria in 1840. Victoria’s collie Sharp was later buried in the grounds of Windsor Castle.

These animals belonged to private royal life, but the images also shaped how the public saw the family. The monarchy looked less distant when a dog was lying at someone’s feet.

Caesar Walked Behind a King’s Coffin

Edward VII’s best-known dog, Caesar, showed how far that attachment could enter public ceremony. The King received the terrier in 1903. Caesar traveled with him and wore a collar that identified his royal owner.

In 1907, Edward commissioned Fabergé to create models of animals kept at Sandringham. Caesar’s figure was made from chalcedony, with ruby eyes and a gold-and-enamel collar.

After Edward died on May 6, 1910, Caesar walked in the funeral procession behind the King’s coffin. A dog that had shared the King’s private journeys was now visible in one of the most solemn public events of the reign.

George V continued the pattern with terriers. His dog Happy even became the imagined narrator of a 1911 book. After Happy died, George named a new dog Jack and wrote that he hoped Jack would become a “worthy successor.”

The Corgis Became Part of Elizabeth II’s Identity

No royal dogs became more recognizable than Queen Elizabeth II’s corgis. She received Susan for her 18th birthday in 1944. Susan later accompanied Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip during their honeymoon period after their November 1947 marriage.

Susan also began a breeding line that continued through several generations. Elizabeth II owned more than 30 corgis and dorgis during her lifetime.

The dorgis came from a cross between one of the Queen’s corgis and Pipkin, a dachshund owned by Princess Margaret. Eight are recorded by name: Tinker, Pickles, Chipper, Piper, Harris, Brandy, Cider, and Berry.

The Queen’s dogs lived with her at royal residences and joined her during stays at Balmoral and Sandringham. A portrait released for her 90th birthday in 2016 showed her at Windsor with four dogs. The photographs placed them beside her as part of the life people already associated with the Queen.

After her death on September 8, 2022, her final corgis, Muick and Sandy, went to live with Sarah, Duchess of York, and Prince Andrew.

A bronze memorial unveiled in Oakham, Rutland, in April 2024 showed Elizabeth II accompanied by three corgis. The dogs had become part of how the country remembered her.

What Orla Represents Now

The connection is especially clear in the way royal dogs remain linked across generations. Susan’s descendants stayed with Elizabeth II for decades. Orla came from the same extended cocker spaniel family as Lupo, and Otto is Orla’s son. The Waleses have not announced any formal breeding program, but keeping Otto creates a visible family line of its own.

Orla belongs to a different royal era. Victoria’s dogs appeared in oil paintings. Caesar appeared in a state funeral. Elizabeth II’s corgis became fixtures of official portraiture and television coverage. Orla appears in birthday photographs, outdoor films, social posts, and relaxed public conversations.

The medium has changed because the monarchy now communicates more directly and more often. Yet the dog still performs the same quiet function.

Orla makes the Wales family look like a household rather than an institution. Otto extends that feeling because he is her son, born into the same family and kept close.

There is no official royal dog tradition. No rule requires each generation to keep a certain breed or introduce a pet to the public. What exists is a repeated family habit supported by portraits, letters, photographs, videos, and personal comments.

Dash was Victoria’s playfellow. Caesar followed Edward VII on journeys and then behind his coffin. Susan stayed close to Elizabeth before she became Queen. Lupo was present as William and Catherine built their family. Orla and Otto now appear beside George, Charlotte, and Louis.

The story keeps returning to the same place: inside the family. That may explain why royal dogs remain so memorable. Behind the formal engagements and inherited roles, there is still a household where a dog sleeps on the bed, puppies chew what they should not, and someone has to ask whether Otto has been taken outside.