Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have adopted an adorable seven-year-old beagle named Mamma Mia, and I would like to apologize in advance for the sheer amount of ABBA puns I will be making.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex ~took a chance on~ the sweet pup, because they preferred to help an older dog, since these are harder to rehome.
Mamma Mia (or simply "Mia") was rescued from the Envigo breeding and research plant in Virginia, where she had lived in dire conditions, along with eight of her puppies, the Los Angeles Times reports. A rep for the duchess says she had heard about Envigo, and wanted to do something for the beagles.
Mia and her puppies made the journey from Virginia to Maryland, then traveled to Los Angeles County's San Fernando Valley, where the Sussexes chose to adopt her.
"The duchess called me personally," said Shannon Keith, who runs the Beagle Freedom Project, and who knew the caller was someone prominent, but didn't know exactly who it was. "She calls on my cell with no Caller ID and says, 'Hey Shannon, this is Meghan.' We talked for 30 minutes, and I thought, 'Is this Megan Fox?'"
The duke and duchess made a low-key journey to the Valley and it was immediately clear that they would be ~laying all their love on~ Mia. "The duchess is holding Mia and was like, 'We’re adopting her,'" Keith explained. "She was like 'No, we don’t want a Christmas puppy. … We want ones we can help who are older.'"
The royal couple was getting ready to drive home with their new ~chiquitita~ when the duke reportedly said, "Well, we can’t leave yet because there’s something in that back house she needs. Does she have a favorite toy or something?" Keith recalled.
Mia said ~gimme! gimme! gimme!~ of a toy fox from a box and Prince Harry declared, "OK, now we can go home." :) :) :)
The Sussexes are longtime dog lovers, and already own another rescue beagle named Guy, who has his own book deal, FYI. (He's getting that ~money, money, money~.) They also have a black Labrador named Pula.
During her time as a senior royal, the duchess was also a patron of the Mayhew animal welfare charity, and often visited animal shelters. She has also been vocal about how helpful pets can be for our mental health. And both she and the duke have often been photographed petting dogs.
The Sussexes aren't the only royals with a soft spot for doggos, of course: The Cambridges famously have a family dog named Orla, and the Queen is known for keeping corgi after corgi.
