Pets of the Belle Époque: Queen Victoria and Her Collie, Sharp, 1866

Queen Victoria and Sharp
W. and D. Downey, 1866
Noble Hounds and Dear Companions
The Royal Collection

Queen Victoria had the companionship of many dogs throughout her life and seemed to feel about them the way I always feel about dogs.  She respected their loyalty and dignity.  This 1866 photograph by W. and D. Downey, shows Victoria with a dog she cherished later in her life when she had entered her long period of mourning.  The smooth-coated Border Collie which she named “Sharp” lived to be fifteen years old.  Victoria and Sharp were very devoted to one another.  The Queen even kept a silver statuette of sharp as a centerpiece on her dining table.  As was her tradition, when Sharp passed away, he was given a noble grave with a fine marker and epitaph seen here in this image from Number One London.