The Amazing Adventures of Archibald Esq.

Rethinking our Royal Connections

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You know from previous posts that I enjoy the associations that hold between the noble badger hound and European Royalty, but I’ve come across something that’s making me re-think the relationship. Awoof!

Like the late Queen Victoria of Britain, today’s Prince Henrik of Denmark has a definite preference for dachshunds. But he loves them in a new and altogether less appetising way: delicately sliced, lightly fried and served on a plate.

Prince Henrik raised eyebrows when he said in an interview that “Dog meat tastes like rabbit. Like dried baby goat. Or perhaps — I know! — like veal! The veal of a baby suckling calf, only drier.”

I ask you, dear reader — if you needed anything to turn you off veal, this would have to be it, no?!

The popularity of the dachshund as a companion animal can be attributed to his international royal status. Many of the royal houses in Europe originated from Germany, and nearly all owned and bred dachshunds.

In Britain the dachshund’s rise to fame owes much to the marriage in 1840 of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg to Queen Victoria. In addition to bringing his beloved Greyhound Eos to England with him, Albert also brought two dachshunds.

One of Queen Victoria’s dachshunds was immortalised in a bronze statue that stands proudly in Windsor palace. And the breed has remained a favourite in the royal household up to today, with our present Queen (Elizabeth II) developing the breed by mixing a dachshund with a corgi to create the Royal Windsor Dorgi: Awoof!

Unfortunately for Denmark — a country committed to ending animal cruelty — Prince Henrik is husband of Queen Magrethe and, as Prince Consort, is an official voice of the country. But for us dachshunds (as opposed to Danes).. there’s worse! He’s also the Honorary President of the Danish Dachshund Club. Oh, woe!

Despite having a taste for eating dog, he is rarely seen without his dachsunds — which have become the Scandinavian version of the Royal Russian Borzoi or the Royal Balmoral Corgis.

Somewhat akin to Britain’s Prince Consort (Duke of Edinburgh), Henrick never fails to cause scandal and leave people speechless (or as the British press are wont to say — ‘gobsmacked’). For example, he is known to have said that he would like to reborn as a dachshund, and controversially advised parents to “bring up children like dogs.” He’s even written a rather cringe-worthy poem dedicated to his favourite dachshund, Evita.

And mystery hangs over his dachshund fetish, as in the 1990s one of the Royal Danish Dachshunds went missing — which led to a massive tabloid frenzy. Rewards were offered and houses were searched. But there have always been whispers: perhaps he ate the dog?

But the controversy is dismissed by Lasse Hansen, a self-confessed dog-lover who works in an EU Embassy in Copenhagen. Hansen noted “He is French, and the French are capable of eating extraordinary things, like horses and snails.”

Rumour has it that Prince Henrik developed an appetite for dog-bone stew in particular and dog meat generally at an early age; he grew up in Vietnam where roast dog remains a specialty. In Vietnam “dogs are bred like chickens for dog meat.”

Awoof! Archie

(Story adapted from ‘The dog-lover Prince and a question of good taste,’ by Rober Boyes (in Berlin), The Times, 3 May 2006).

Posted 27 Jan 07