Though the most wide known majestic pets may beQueen Elizabeth II ’s brigade of Pembroke WelshCorgis , the late crowned head ’s furry friends are far from the strangest companions kept by those who have worn the jacket . Exotic favourite have played a much more important role in royal life-time than many have imagined . They functioned as both diplomatic envoys and as symbols of a monarchy ’s far reaching influence . While many of the unusual pets on our leaning may be counted as yet another eccentricity , appeal of exotic pets also served as emblem of their owner ’s vast wealth and royal connectedness .
Empress Joséphine’s Orangutan
Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais — first wife of Gallic despot Napoleon Bonaparte — once had a beloved , quasi childlikepet orangutannamed Rose . Rose was one of the many animals in Joséphine ’s extensive menagerie of exotic pets ; the empress reportedly dressed the young orang in children ’s article of clothing and even invite Rose to dine at the table with her and Napoleon . Rose is say to have had a special proclivity forturnipsand could even eat her intellectual nourishment with eating utensil .
unhappily , Rose did not take well to life at the Bonapartes ’ palatial Château de Malmaison and diedless than a yearafter arriving . Joséphine sent her remains to French animal scientist Georges Cuvier to be consider .
King Henry II’s Polar Bear
The “ white bear ” gifted to King Henry II by Haakon IV of Norway is widely believed to have been anactual glacial bear . The arctic carnivore was a pop attractive force at theTower of London ’s royal menagerie and was even allowed to adjoin the grounds ( on a Sir Ernst Boris Chain ) and hazard into the River Thames to hunt and float .
The royal menagerie in the Tower of London housedanimals likelions , kangaroo , monkeys , and even elephants . It remained in military operation until Arthur Wellesley , Duke of Wellington rank its closure in the other 19th hundred .
Catherine of Aragon’s Monkey
Henry VIII’sfirst married woman , Catherine of Aragon , appears in multipleroyal portraitswith her primate pal . Historians suspect the scalawag was a Panamanian white - facedcapuchin . Exotic darling , peculiarly hierarch , were wide deal to besymbolsof worldliness and wealth throughout the sixteenth century . after portraitsdepicting Margaret Tudor — Catherine ’s sister - in - jurisprudence and Queen of Scotland — show the Scottish queen cradling a scallywag of her own ( possibly a marmoset ) .
Alongside Catherine and Margaret , numerous other royalsincludingJohn , Duke of Berry and Queen Isabeau of Bavaria were said to have kept monkeys as favorite .
King Charles X’s Giraffe
Ottoman vicereine Mehmet Ali Pasha gift King Charles X of France a youthful Nubian giraffe captured from Sudan as part of a serial of gifts to European rulers . Thousands of Parisians lined the streets to greet her and the immature giraffe became something of a cultural sensation throughout France . She was the subject of songs , paintings , poems , and even inspiring apopular hair style .
The Nubian giraffe died in early 1845 after live in the Parisian botanical garden Jardin des Plantes for almost two decennium . She was thenstuffedand displayed in the garden ’s foyer before finally being moved to the Museum of Natural History of La Rochelle , where she reside to this day .
Queen Elizabeth II’s Chameleon
Elizabeth and her baby , Princess Margaret , were gifted a pet chameleon by Lord Louis Mountbatten when the former was 15 years old . The sisters forge their reptilian champion an enclosure from a small box and page snap fromDebrett’s(a tome outlining proper British etiquette ) and would conduct it around the majestic palace to crack up unsuspecting tent-fly .
After the Chamaeleon died , a heartbreak - stricken Elizabeth insisted on devote the pet a proper burial over with a blank , chameleon - sized coffin . In Marion Crawford ’s bookElizabeth the Queen , the young royal ’s nannywroteof the reptilian ’s royal interment : “ Then the three of us marched into the gardens to discover a suitable necropolis . We had not yet lead far when Princess Elizabeth block up with a look of repulsion on her case . ‘ But how do we hump he ’s dead ? ’ she asked . Then we had to loosen the casket and make trusted . There was no doubtfulness about it , so we buried him under a flowering shrub and Princess Elizabeth hummed a hymn melody . ”
George III’s Cheetah
Sir George Pigot gifted King George III a cheetah by the name of Miss Jenny in a bid to secure himself a 2nd term as regulator - superior general of Madras . After being regifted to the Duke of Cumberland , Miss Jennyeventually joinedthe famed Tower of London menagerie , where she became one of its most famous dweller untilpassing awayabout seven year afterwards .
Miss Jenny also became the depicted object of awell known paintingby renowned English creative person George Stubbs . The nontextual matter depicts the chetah , blindfold and confine , being prepped for a hart William Holman Hunt arrange by the Duke of Cumberland at Windsor Great Park . The hunt was a total failure , resulting in an understandably frightened Miss Jenny cowering when front by the large stag she ’d been intend to slay .
Queen Victoria’s Tibetan Goats
Queen Victoriawas gifted a brace of Tibetan mountain Capricorn the Goat from Mohammad Shah Qajar ( who ruled Persia from 1834 to 1848 ) after go up the British throne in 1837 . The pair of laughingstock , whose downy wool cede hunky-dory Jammu and Kashmir , were used to establish aroyal herdat Windsor . Their descendants still play a role in royal life-time today .
King Manuel I’s Rhinoceros
As a solacement forrefusingPortugal permit to build a fortress on his land , King Modofar of Cambaia transmit Portugal ’s king a rhinoceros as a diplomatic gift . The rhinoceros , a female Indian rhino named Ganda , quickly became a popular attraction among the Portuguese . She shortly resided in Manuel ’s expansive royal menagerie before the Portuguese baron present her to Pope Leo X.
Sadly , while on a ship tie down for Rome , Ganda and the total crew drown after a ragingsquallsank their vas . King Manuel say Ganda ’s clay be recover from the wreckage so it could be taxidermied and delivered to the Pope still .
King Henry I’s Porcupine
Woodstock Palace — formerly live as Woodstock Manor — was an English royal residence that also serve as King Henry I ’s bestiary . Henry I erected miles of stone rampart to service as an enclosing for his menagerie . His accumulation of fauna included hyaena , lions , camel , leopards , and evena porcupinegifted to him by William V of Montpellier , a drawing card on the blinking First Crusade .
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