The Breed: Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel is descended from the King Charles Spaniel. Companion to the British aristocracy since the 13th century, the dog was named after the royal spaniels of King Charles II. In the late 1600s the King Charles Spaniel was interbred with the Pug, drastically altering its appearance.

A return to the original appearance of the King Charles Spaniel, as depicted in Van Dyck's paintings of the royal spaniels, took place in the 1920s. By the 1940s the King Charles Spaniel was classified as a separate breed and was given the prefix Cavalier to differentiate it from its forebears and to recognize its position as the true heir of the royal spaniels of King Charles II.