CONCERNING A PRINCESS'S CATS Gentlewoman, 28th September 1901
Very quietly and slowly, but none the less surely, during the past thirty years a hobby has grown up in our midst - a hobby indulged in almost exclusively by gentlewomen - a hobby in which a great deal of skill, patience, and sympathy is essential, a hobby to which much of their time and interest has to be devoted. Ever since the day when Harrison Weir, now an old man, organised the first cat show ever held in the world, at the Crystal Palace, in 1872, the keeping, breeding, and exhibiting of high-class cats has formed a pleasant pastime for a large number of women in every part of the country. The buying and selling of cats and kittens has supplemented many a scanty income. But it is only during the past few years that the cat has made any bold bid for general popularity in England, or achieved distinction by securing august patronage and recognition.

It is a not generally known fact, but one vouched for on most unimpeachable testimony, that His present Majesty, King Edward VII, on being asked to patronise a society for the protection of cats, replied that he would willingly consent, but that if he did so, he might the next week be asked to support a society for the protection of rats, and so find himself in an awkward predicament. The late Queen was not fond of cats, but it was by her express command that the image of a cat was engraved upon the medal of the R.S.P.C.A, from which it had been omitted. And our gracious Queen Alexandra, though preferring dogs, is still patroness of the London Institution for Lost and Starving Cats, Direct and prominent support is given, however, by Princess Victoria of Schleswig- Holstein. Of this recognition the cat fraternity is extremely proud.

To the National Cat Club, of which H.H. Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein is now patron and the Duchess of Bedford president, not a little of the credit for the present movement may be allocated. This hard-working body holds about three large exhibitions of cats during the year, and has over ten thousand cats’ names registered upon its books. Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein figures as patron of the club in no ordinary sense. Her Highness is an enthusiastic admirer of pussy, and is very proud of her own beautiful specimens, pictures of some of which l have been privileged to reproduce. It may be as well to mention at this stage that her cats are not merely ornamental, and that a blue Persian bred in the Cumberland Lodge cattery, now owned by Mrs. Collingwood, of Leighton Buzzard, has secured firsts and many specials every time shown, is now on the road to becoming a full-fledged champion, and is admitted to be one of the finest of its kind at present before the public.

Under the auspices of the N.C.C. is held just about this time every year at Manchester by the Northern Counties Cat Club (an affiliated society) a show entirely composed of kittens. At this Kitten Show, always an interesting, well-managed exhibition, Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein entered her two chinchilla youngsters this year, booking them also to appear at Slough Show on the 27th, held two days afterwards. It was at the National Cat Club Summer Show of 1900, in the Royal Botanic Society's Gardens, Regent's Park, that the Princess first entered the lists as an exhibitor. At that fixture we find her winning a special prize with a pair of blue Persian kittens, bred by herself, and respectively named, in the martial spirit of that eventful time, “General Buller” and “Our Tommy Atkins.”

At the present moment Her Highness has in her cattery, which is a well constructed and commodious outhouse at Cumberland Lodge, two cats and five kittens. Three of the latter are only six weeks old. This collection is divided as follows:- A pair of young chinchillas, otherwise silver Persians, and the remainder long-haired blues. The pair of chinchillas were presented to Princess Victoria by Lady Marcus Beresford, who is the founder of another enterprising society known as the Cat Club. This body was responsible for Slough Show, and held it in aid of H.R.H. Princess Christian’s Nursing Homes. The task of naming the kittens, pictures of which are here given, was shared by Princess Christian and her daughter equally, “Puck” being bestowed on the male, and “Imp” being decided on for the female. “Puck’s” pet name is “Moses.” He is a dignified little bit of cat-flesh, with charming manners and deportment, very self possessed, and extremely affectionate. “Imp" is rather inclined to be shy, and is not altogether disposed to be friendly to strangers.

The welfare of the Princess's cats is in the hands of Mrs. Amor, the wife of the head coachman of Cumberland Lodge.

H.R.H. Princess Christian is another great friend of animals, and shares this taste with Prince Christian, who is never happy unless out with his dogs. The Princess Christian, who has a particular liking tor a huge, handsome black tom cat, who has the run of the place and is a terror to the stable mice, also pleads guilty to a fondness for blue Persians, and has one she purchased herself and brought down to Windsor all the way from a Yorkshire bazaar.

There is an aristocracy in cat-dom whose pedigrees are preserved as carefully as the most blue-blooded of our kind, and in blue Persians, though the word “blue” does not of course signify pure bred, pedigrees can be traced back to ancestors who were all pure blue in colour of coat for many generations. Princess Victoria’s two grown-up blue cats both come from noted strains, and, though they cannot be said to be equal in type, points and quality to the well-known champions, one of them, “Blue Girl” by name, has won two first prizes under different judges in strong competition, and the other, “Viola,” has several good features much sought after.

The cats at Cumberland Lodge are fed twice a day, raw meat being the staple item of their diet. The kittens when young are brought up on Mellin's Food, in the winter they are given porridge every morning.

The first well-bred cat the Princess Victoria evet possessed was presented to her by the late Queen Victoria and was formerly owned by Lady Decies, better known perhaps as Miss Gertrude Willoughby, who possesses one of, if not the finest collection of cats in the kingdom. This particular cat - by name, Dushcar - though of good parentage, was not a success in the show world, and has now passed into the possession of the Superintendent of the Salvation Army Poultry Colony in Essex.

The photos I have obtained show the cats at a time when they were not in full coat. It was only after a great deal of patience that Mr. Landor succeed in photographing the kittens, whose father, I must not forget to state, is Lady Marcus Beresford's celebrated Blue Boy II.

A ROYAL CATTERY Fleetwood Chronicle, 24th April 1906
Perhaps the only cat in the world which enjoys the privilege of a postal address and her own letter box is a beautiful chinchilla dame, of Persian lineage and proud exhibition renown, belonging to Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein. King Edward's niece is, says Louise Baker in the "Girl's Realm," very fond of cats, and for a long time has been known as "a royal fancier." Occasionally a Crystal Palace Cat Show catalogue shows the Princess the winner of a special prise, sometimes tor the much admired and very fashionable "Blue Persians" (which once used to be known as "Angoras"), but often in the classes devoted to the rarer and most bewitching "Unmarked Chinchillas."

This love of cats as pets is one shared by both Prince and Princess Christian, and it may be said in part to be a fancy inherited by the Princess from her father and mother. At Cumberland Lodge, not kept in a cattily but rosining the stableyard and the grounds at will, is a beautiful red tabby Persian, which is known as "His Royal Highness's cat ‘Togo.’ ” Prince Christian's cat is an animal of spirit, with a strong individuality, who, while he accepts caresses and that amount of attention which the visitor usually bestows on a fine animal, strongly objects to being photographed. Other of the Prince's cats are "Ladybird," and two little smooth-haired kittens, one of the old-fashioned English breed of tortoiseshell and white and the other a cream colour - a variety seldom met with, either in the ordinary cat or the longhaired Persian.

Princess Victoria is devoted to her pets as well as interested in their wellbeing, and does not merely keep a cattery in order to have a great many belonging to her, but is careful to see that their comfort is assured, and that her cats are looked after in such a way that at any time when she wishes for a boudoir pet for herself or a friend one of the beautiful highly-bred animals is ready for selection for that purpose. To this end the cats and their kittens are entrusted to the charge of Mrs. Amor, the coachman's wife, near whose cottage the catteries have been erected, and the daily life of this faithful retainer knows no greater charge than her affectionate anxiety that "all may be well with Her Highness's cats."

Over the door of the cats' house is a crown surmounted by the letters V.S.H., and forming Princess Victoria's monogram. The building consists of an inner apartment of two divisions, "upstairs and downstairs," and the other part is a roomy wire run, well gravelled and sheltered by a big chestnut tree. From the roof inside hang little coloured gelatine balls filled with peas, and suspended on strings, which the kittens jump to in delighted play, and with which the much petted "Imp" diverts in leas serious moments. Cats, more, perhaps, than any other animal, dislike the feeling of damp, and a little round table in the middle of the apartment is placed there for their use after a shower. The front of the inner apartment can be closed at night or during rain. Its four little windows are daintily hung with muslin tied back with blue ribbon for the chinchilla occupant, and with pink and green for the blues. Into the little letter-box is slipped every morning what purports to be a letter - a delicate attention to "Imp," who from kittenhood has loved to play with a piece of paper. Like a doll's house, too, a flight of miniature steps leads to the door above, where the feeding dishes are placed well to one side, and on the opposite side stands a little wooden bed with its full complement of sheets, blankets, quilt, and bedding for the due repose of "a Princess's pet."

A ROYAL LOVER OF CATS - PRINCESS VICTORIA OF SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN'S FELINE PETS.
The Tatler, 24th August 1904

The public, more especially the cat-loving public, were extremely anxious over the illness of Princess Victoria of Schleswig- Holstein. To this amiable lady's support of the National Cat Club and cat shows the cat world is much indebted, for it has given the fashionable cult so necessary to the success of any hobby, and without which patronage, no enterprise, amateur or professional, can ever survive its introduction. A genuine cat-lover, it is now some years since the Princess Victoria became patron of the National Cat Club. Having given her name to the undertaking she displayed her interest to the public by entering her cats - pretty silver Persians for competition at the Crystal Palace and Botanic shows, and subsequently her Royal Highness has gone the length of placing her Windsor cattery at stud, thus entering into the practical part of cat owner ship as well as the part which means outlay and worries that of showing and competing for prizes.

Like the Queen, who treasures every medal she wins, the Princess Victoria is very proud of the tokens and trophies which her long- coated pussies of the East bring home to Cumberland Lodge, and prominent upon the table of her boudoir stand two of the loveliest models in silver (which spell honour for the Cumberland cattery won at the Crystal Palace), a pair of Persian cats. Cats in silver became the vogue as special prizes through her grace of Bedford, who for so many years generously gave to the N.C.C. the loveliest silver cat pepperettes for competition. It is said the noble Fritz of Woburn whose picture was given in our pages a few weeks since - was the handsome model which gave her grace's silversmith his study. Among the lucky cats whose bewitching beauty is given in this way to posterity (following the example of the Egyptians, whose models of felines are so full of interest to writers and lovers of cat history) Lady Decies's peerless chinchilla, Zaida, has her double in silver, and the original feline founder in England of the line of chinchillas - Mrs. Balding's famous Lambkin stands - empress-like on the N.C.C. trophy or ten-guinea urn which subsequently fell to the charms of the lucky Zaida, who has won this trophy some five times for Lady Decies.

Mr. Landor's picture of the Fair Maid of Windsor shows one of her Royal Highness's favourites, and a prettier, more winsome, puss- cat was surely never before the camera. The kittens from Windsor is also another charming study of Mr. Landor's, whose name stands high as a photographer of animals. "Twin Roses on One Stem is the photo of a pretty pair of royal blues also in the Cumberland cattery. Among the[smart owners of beautiful cats may be named the Duchess of Bedford, the Duchess of Sutherland, the Lady Dufferin, Lady Aberdeen, Lady Decies, Lady Maitland, Lady Hothfield, Lady Alexander, and Lady Knatchbull. Lady Marcus Beresford who did so much to forward the hobby, has given it up, much to the regret of the fancy generally and the surprise of everybody. Lady Decies is now offering all her cats for sale with the exception of Zaida, and it is said she has given them up for Pekinese spaniels.

PRINCESS A CAT COLLECTOR / CAT FAD IN SMART SET – Various, September 1904
Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, one of King Edward's nieces, has made the cat cult intensely fashionable again. Her royal highness, a devoted lover of cats, became patron of the National cat show and entered her beautiful silver Persians for competition at the Crystal palace and botanic shows. Cats she must have with her always. Upon the table of her boudoir, at Cumberland Lodge stand two handsome models in silver of a pair of her Persian cats. Mr Landor has pictured one of the Princess’ favorites, the Fair Maid of Windsor. He has also photographed the Windsor kittens and “twin roses on one stem," a fine pair of royal blues. Miss Evelyn van Wart of New York is very fond of cats too. She possess some of the finest English tabbies in the kingdom, and, like all her friends, they are devoted to her. Another of her pets is a parrot which is full of quaint sayings and odd mannerisms. Among the smart owners of fine cats are the Duchess of Bedford, the Duchess of Sutherland, Lady Dufferin, Lady Aberdeen, Lady Decies, Lady Maitland, Lady Hotfield, Lady Alexander and Lady Knatchbull. Lady Marcus Beresford, who did so much to popularize the hobby in society, has given it up, much to everybody’s surprise.