Last September, as the funeral cortege of Queen Elizabeth II made its way to Windsor, you may remember the sad sight waiting at the castle’s steps. Two Pembroke Welsh corgis, named Muic and Sandy, filled the papers with photographs as they waited for their former mistress- one lying on the pavement with two paws under their chin.

But the Corgis were far from the first on four legs to capture the nation in the wake of a Royal death. Today, we’re going to tell the story of Caesar, the furry companion of King Edward VII, and how his role in his
master’s funeral warmed the country to its heart.

The second child and first son of Queen Victoria, Edward VII – born Albert Edward Saxe-Coburg and known as “Bertie” to his friends – was born November 9th, 1841, and would wait just under 60 years to succeed his mother to the throne in 1901.

Generally remembered for his extravagant youth, a misadventure in luxury, high society and a series of rather public affairs, by his later years, he’d earned the epithet of “Peacemaker”. Edward was fond of visiting his many royal relations across Europe, gaining a reputation for a cordial manner and a talent for diplomacy (though some historians argue his poor relationship with his nephew, Kaiser Wilhelm II, only hastened the approach of WW1).

Overall, he is hardly one of Buckingham Palace’s most iconic characters, but in his lifetime Edward garnered much respect – and even relative affection – amongst the British public. 

As well as his reputation as the “Uncle of Europe”, Edward was very fond of animals – an enthusiastic spectator of race horses and the only reigning Monarch to own a Derby winner. But, most famously, he loved the company of dogs. He owned a few canines over the years, but his last and perhaps best known is the subject of our story today. 

In 1902, Edward VII was presented with a little wire fox terrier by his friend Lord Dudley after his previous dog, Jack, died from choking on his food. Born and bred in the Kennels of the Duchess of Newcastle in 1898, the new pup was named Caesar of Notts (after his sire, Cackler of Notts). 

Caesar would become the King’s almost constant companion – joining him on his diplomatic and social travels around the continent. He had a footman charged with keeping him washed and combed, an easy chair to sleep in beside Edward’s bed – even a beautiful collar inscribed with the words “I AM CAESAR I BELONG TO THE KING”. The pup lived in luxury. Once, when Caesar fell ill, Edward even considered spending an extraordinary £200 to import an English Vet specially to Vienna so they could attend him personally. 

Anecdotes paint a portrait of a spirited and excitable character – he was known to go chasing after animals on the King’s property, once losing a noble battle to a Hedgehog and returning, tail between his legs, with his mouth full of prickles. He’d often jump up in excitement when spotting Edward (“Do you like your old Master then?” the King would ask gruffly to a wagging tail).

He was also a bringer of mischief. Charles Hinge remembered the dog’s tendency to go for the ends of his trousers with his teeth, much to the amusement of the King. Even when Edward caught Caesar in the act of less entertaining trouble, shaking his stick and telling him he was a “naughty, naughty dog”, the pup would just “smile” back, cheerful and untroubled. 

So, for the first few years of his life, Caesar was a lively part of the Royal household. But it was the end of an era that would shoot the little dog into the national and international spotlight. 

Edward was 59 years old when he became King. After years of indulgence, not limited to 20 cigarettes and 12 cigars a day, he suffered with poor health, including a history with skin cancer and bronchitis and in March 1910 he collapsed while abroad in the Bay of Biscay. It was the beginning of the end. After a period of unsuccessful convalescence, he returned to Buckingham Palace on April 27th, only to suffer a series of heart attacks on May 6th.

At this time, family and friends visited to say their comforts and farewells to the King . His son, the soon to be George V, told him that his horse the Witch-of-Air had won the Kempton races, and Edward replied with his last recorded words; “Yes, I have heard of it – I am very glad”. He died at 11:45pm, officially of “emphysema and heart failure”. 

Caesar did sit with his master in these final hours, though when Mrs Alice Keppel, Edward’s mistress and close-confidant, left the King’s side after saying her last goodbyes the little dog would follow her out.

Queen Alexandra, Edward VII’s Wife and Consort, would hold this against Caesar. Speaking to Mrs Emma Asquith, the Prime Minister’s wife and her good friend, she called him a “Horrid Little Dog! He never went near my husband when he was ill!”. When Emma told the Queen Mother that the PM had seen the pup on his bedside visit – curled up at the King’s feet- she replied; “For Warmth, my dear!”. 

But Caesar would soon have the chance to ‘redeem’ himself. 

Edward’s funeral would follow the template set by his mother – a procession through London and a train to Windsor for a service in St George’s Chapel. Yet, unlike Victoria, ceremonies would begin with the body lying-in-state at Westminster Hall – beginning a long tradition that continued last September with the funeral of Elizabeth II. 

On May 17th, a solemn procession would escort the coffin to from Buckingham Palace to Westminster, where Edward would lay until the funeral day with an estimated 400,000 people queuing to file past and pay their respects. While his master lay in state, The Times noted that Caesar was “reported to have gone again and again of late to places in which he was accustomed to be taken notice of by his master”. 

So, on May 20th, the big day arrived. As the Royal family entered Westminster Hall for a short, private service with the royal body, the procession would begin to assemble in New Palace Yard. The coffin would rest on a Gun Carriage – the very same that carried the King’s mother nearly ten years before – and followed by an incredible nine reigning sovereigns.

In fact, Edward VII’s funeral would be the largest recorded gathering of European royalty in history – with many of the monarchies represented in the ceremony wiped out by the oncoming First World War. Kaiser Wilhelm II would ride on horseback beside his cousin, George V, in the procession to Paddington Station. 

But just ahead would wait two much more humble figures. The first was the King’s favourite Charger, led by two grooms with Edward’s military boots reversed in the stirrups – a long tradition seen at the funeral of the Duke of Wellington. Royal horses also played a part and HM Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral – her favourite fell pony, Emma, waited patiently for the funeral cortege pass by on its way to Windsor Castle.

But behind Edward VII’s Charger, led by a Highland servant, was little Caesar. The Queen Mother had requested the dog be part of the ceremony, and indeed, the pup would walk behind his master –  yet would go ahead of reigning royalty, almost in the traditional position of “chief mourner”.  

When the Royal family exited the hall after a private ceremony with the body, newspapers tearfully reported how Queen Alexandra “stayed a moment to pat the terrier” on his head, along with the horse.

Once the coffin was safely carried from the hall and onto the carriage, it was time for Edward to begin his final journey. It’s estimated that 200,000-300,000 people crammed into London to watch the procession pass by. As well as the nine sovereigns, the cortege included representatives from over 70 states. US President William Howard Taft sent his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt on his behalf – a personal friend to the old King. 

Accounts speak of a great, solemn silence – the cortege passing through Whitehall, the Mall, Hyde Park Corner and Marble Arch. No doubt eyes followed the coffin – covered in rich fabric with the glittering crown, orb and sceptre resting on top.

But amongst the clatter of horse shoes and the marching military, one thing stood out. “The most tragic of figures-,” wrote one lady’s newspaper “-a little terrier – oh such a mournful and pitiful sight!”.

Caesar followed the King all the way to Paddington station, where the coffin would be unloaded to take the funeral train to Windsor. Once the engine hauled away, historian Martin Williams writes that Caesar “straining at his lead … stood on his hind legs, whimpering, until the last carriage had rounded a curve on the tracks and passed out of sight”. 

But while the King was laid to rest at St George’s Chapel, his beloved companion had become something of a celebrity. 

The papers had already made much of the dog – highlighting his presence in the cortege, his charming interaction with the Queen Mother at Westminster Hall. The day after the funeral, the Illustrated London News published a painting of Caesar leaning mournfully beside an empty armchair, titled “Silent Sorrow” – although, this was likely commissioned after the King’s death and before the funeral.

In the weeks that followed, numerous postcards and cigarette cards of the terrier were sold and exchanged across the country, each with captions reading “His Late Majesty’s favourite dog” or “a sympathetic follower”. 

But the real winner was yet to come. Allegedly written on behalf of Caesar himself, one anonymous writer published a children’s book titled “Where’s Master?”, telling the funeral’s tooth-rottingly sincere story through the honoured pup’s eyes.

As Caesar walks behind the King’s coffin, he thinks; 

“I’m marching in front of the Kings. I’ve no history, I’ve no pedigree, I’m not high-born. But I loved him, and I was faithful to him, and he didn’t care how lowly or humble man or beast might be as long as they did their best and were faithful,”

The book’s final lines read as follows: 

“We’ve come to the end of the journey. They say I can’t follow Master any further. They say there are no little dogs where Master has gone. But I know better,”

The Queen Mother was, allegedly, horrified. Yet the book saw several reprints and sold over 100,000 copies. Even the toy company Steiff got in on the action, producing a children’s toy Terrier with a collar naming him “CAESAR”. 

But happened to the dog himself? 

At first, Caesar continued his life at Buckingham palace. Courtier Lord Esher wrote on May 31st that “Caesar, the dear King’s dog … won’t go near the Queen and waits all day for his master, wandering about the house. He sleeps either on the King’s bed or on … [a bed] in a small room next to the King’s room…”. 

So it seemed that there was still no love lost between Caesar and the Queen Mother. And yet, when Mrs Alice Keppel wrote to ask if she could look after the dog, noting there was no plan for him in the King’s will, she was met with a polite but firm no. Though it took a little time for the pair to warm up (“horrid little dog!”), Alexandra adopted Caesar into the world of Marlborough House. 

Caesar would live almost another four years, in which time the Queen Mother admitted she couldn’t help but spoil him, since she felt the King had been so strict (personal grooms and custom collars aside). He would die on April 19th, 1914 and be buried on the grounds at Marlborough House.

The memorial, erected by Alexandra, reads as follows;

‘Caesar. 

The King’s Faithful and Constant Companion until Death and My Greatest Comforter in My Loneliness and Sorrow for Four Years after. 

Died April 18th 1914’

In 1927, after Queen Alexandra passed away aged 80 following a heart attack, she re-joined her husband at Windsor. A sculpture made from Carrara marble was erected in the couple’s memory on the South Side of St George’s Chapel, depicting the pair lying at rest in their state robes.

But, if you pay Edward and Alexandra a visit, you’ll see they are not alone. Curled up at his Master’s feet, Caesar is immortalised with the King’s memory in stone.

Though it might not quite capture the vibrant character that kept the Royal Household on its toes – perhaps a bit too peaceful for the terrier that chewed on trousers and harassed the local wildlife – it’s certainly a moving tribute to a small dog that caught the country’s imagination. 

By Minette Butler – Curator

If you have any inquiries about our museum – please email us at nfm@tcribb.co.uk.

Bibliography

Anon. The Queen, The Lady’s Newspaper – Supplement May 21st 1910.

Anon. The Illustrated London News May 21st 1910. 

Anon. The Times May 23rd 1910.

Anne Edwards, Matriarch: Queen Mary and the House of Windsor (Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield , 2014).

RCT, Caesar (2023) <https://www.rct.uk/collection/40339/caesar&gt; [accessed 3 May 2023].

Jane Ridley, Bertie: A Life of Edward VII (London: Chatto & Windus, 2012).

Christopher Hibbert, Edward VII: The Last Victorian King (USA: Palgrave, 2007).V&A, Cæsar the King’s Dog (2022) <https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/caesar-the-kings-dog#?c=&m=&s=&cv=56&xywh=-515%2C-544%2C8175%2C6229 > [accessed 3 May 2023].