Prince loves his dogs -- um, well done

Terry McConnell, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Sunday, May 07, 2006

Prince Henrik of Denmark has long professed a genuine fondness for dogs. He is the honorary president of the Danish Dachshund Club. He has written poems about his own canine pet, Evita. He has even suggested in the past that Danish parents should use the skills learned in training dogs to bring up their children.

It turns out the Prince also likes his dogs fried -- or grilled.

The 72-year-old prince, husband of head of state Queen Margrethe II, is a Frenchman by birth. Now some of you might suggest that alone explains much, but apparently he spent a good number of his early years in Vietnam -- at the time a French colony -- and that's where he developed his taste for dog.

"I do not mind eating dog meat at all," the prince admitted in an interview published in the magazine Ud & Se. "The dogs I eat have been bred to be eaten anyway, just like chickens." He particularly favours the meat when it's sauteed or grilled and cut into thin slices.

"It tastes like rabbit, like dry venison, or like veal -- just drier."

Not surprisingly, the prince's admission shocked many Danes, reports London's Daily Telegraph. It has also prompted Danish newspapers to reopen their files on a royal dachshund that disappeared from the palace in Copenhagen in the early 1990s. Despite a nationwide search, the pooch was (insert eerie music here) never found.

WHY DOGS ARE TOPS

"I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive."

-- Gilda Radner