A Very Important Dog

A topical (slightly late) story.

I was born in Windsor and my parents were friends with one of the staff at the castle. He and his wife became my godparents.

There are pictures of King George VI and the royal family at Windsor. Some of them include the royal dogs. There are the famous corgis and a little hairy one called Ching. There is a good image in the Hulton Archive (Getty Images).

As Ching got older he couldn't keep up with the corgis so he went to live with my godparents in their mews apartment in the castle grounds.

My parents used to take Ching out for walks. I remember my dad telling me that he was reading a story in the paper that Ching had died, there was Ching asleep in front of the fire in my godparent's front room.

This is Ching with my godmother on the left and my grandmother on the right.



Ching at the feet of my godfather and his children.