Prince Harry and Meghan Markle adopt seven-year-old rescue beagle named Mamma Mia

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have added to their family, adopting a beagle named Mamma Mia.

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The seven-year-old rescue dog joins fellow beagle Guy and a black Labrador thought to be named Pula at their family home in Montecito, California.

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Mamma Mia was reportedly rescued along with 4,000 other beagles by federal authorities in Virginia in July. Shannon Keith, an animal rights attorney who runs the Beagle Freedom Project, told the LA Times: "The duchess called me personally.

"She calls on my cell with no Caller ID and says, 'Hey Shannon, this is Meghan.'" Shannon shared that they spoke for 30 minutes and she at first thought she was talking to the actress Mehan Fox.

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Mia arrived at the shelter with eight of her newborn puppies, and Meghan and Harry both visited her after hours where they played with the dogs before making their decision.

Meghan reportedly told Shannon that they want to help the older rescue dogs.

Mammia Mia was adopted by the royals

Animal-lover Meghan has adopted a number of rescue dogs over the past few years and brought her American rescue beagle Guy to the UK when she married Harry.

The former actress chose animal welfare charity Mayhew as one of her first patronages.

When she moved to England to be with Harry she had to leave Bogart – a Labrador-shepherd mix – in the US. Meghan often used the #adoptdontshop hashtag in her Instagram posts.

The pair are big animal lovers

Harry previously shared a story about how the Queen's dogs fell in love with Meghan as soon as they met her.

In their engagement interview in 2017, Harry revealed the Queen’s corgis and dorgis took to Meghan "straight away," joking: "I’ve spent the last 33 years being barked at; this one walks in, absolutely nothing... just wagging tails and I was just like, 'argh'."2