The Great Francis Parker
biographer of the great and the good, and of Queen Victoria
(image by Charlotte Cory: the corgi queen)
this is "Pepper", the dog who - according to Frances Parker in the final episode of THINKING
OF LEAVING YOUR HUSBAND? - did a Greyfriar's Bobby beside the coffin of Queen Victoria
and could only be lured away from his vigil by a liver and bacon breakfast with the new
King Edward VII. Pepper became a national hero, mugs were made, medals struck; his
dogged grief and devotion became a symbol of the country's mourning. By popular demand, he
was allowed to walk in the funeral procession directly beside the coffin attached to a lead made of
black silk sent specially from Loyal Subjects of Rajestan. This lead was given to Frances Parker
who for years kept it hanging up in the hallway of his cavernous flat in Earls Court.