The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have adopted a new beagle called Mamma Mia. The seven-year-old rescue dog joins fellow beagle Guy and a black Labrador thought to be named Pula at Harry and Meghan's California home.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Mamma Mia was rescued along with 4,000 other beagles by federal authorities in Virginia in July. Shannon Keith, an animal rights attorney who runs the Beagle Freedom Project, told the newspaper Meghan called him personally about adopting.
She said: "She calls on my cell with no Caller ID and says, ‘Hey Shannon, this is Meghan'.” Ms Keith said they talked for 30 minutes and she wondered at first if it was Megan Fox, but it was indeed the Duchess of Sussex.
The newspaper said Meghan and Harry made an after-hours visit and played with Mia who had been brought there with eight of her newborn puppies. Ms Keith told the Los Angeles Times: “The duchess is holding Mia and was like, ‘We’re adopting her.’ She was like, ‘No, we don’t want a Christmas puppy. … We want ones we can help who are older.’”
Animal-lover Meghan has adopted a number of rescue dogs. She brought her American rescue beagle Guy to the UK when she married Harry but had to leave Bogart – a Labrador-shepherd mix – in the US.
Meghan has previously said the pair of rescue dogs “mean the absolute world” to her, referring to them as “my loves” and “my boys”. Guy and Bogart regularly featured on her Instagram account, with Guy even appearing in a patriotic knitted Union flag jumper.
It was American comedian and chat show host Ellen DeGeneres who convinced Meghan to adopt Bogart, her first pet, after she bumped into her in a shelter. The former actress chose animal welfare charity Mayhew as one of her first patronages and often used the #adoptdontshop hashtag in her Instagram posts.
The Queen is perhaps the royal best known for her love of dogs. In their engagement interview in 2017, Harry revealed the Queen’s corgis and dorgis took to Meghan “straight away”.
“I’ve spent the last 33 years being barked at; this one walks in, absolutely nothing…” he said. Describing the moment, Meghan said: “Just laying on my feet during tea, it was very sweet.” And Harry added: “…just wagging tails and I was just like argh.”
