9781422279311

in Germany, his wife, Sarah, sat at home anxiously waiting for news of her husband. At the time, one of his little spaniels was pregnant, and she kept it on her lap for comfort. In her nervous state she kept pressing her thumb down on top of the dog’s head, and when the puppies were born each had a mark on its head shaped like a thumb print. Thus the lozenge, the white hourglass markings between the eyes, came about; it remains a much sought-after breed feature in Cavaliers to this day. On his triumphant return, Queen Anne granted Churchill the ti- tle of Duke of Marlborough and gave him a large estate and a grand palace in Oxfordshire, which became known as Blenheim Palace af- ter his great victory. The spaniels bred by Churchill were called Blen- heim spaniels. Another famous royal associated with toy spaniels was the young Queen Victoria. She was devoted to her small tricolor spaniel Dash, and it is said that although she was very taken with the young Prince

11