Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have added to their family by adopting a dog.
Shannon Keith, president and founder of the Beagle Freedom Project, confirmed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have rehomed Mamma Mia, 7, who was one of 4,000 beagles rescued from a Virginia breeding facility .
Keith told the Los Angeles Times the duchess called her directly earlier this month and specifically said she wanted an older dog, not a puppy.
Meghan is known for her love of beagles and previously rescued Guy before marrying Prince Harry.
"The duchess called me personally," Keith said. “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?'"
Volunteers will help them adjust the dogs to people before they are sent to foster homes or adopted. Getty Images / AFP
Daniel, a staff member with Homeward Trails Animal Rescue, hugs a beagle after returning from the Paw Prints Animal Hospital in Maryland for veterinary appointments. Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images / AFP
A beagle's teeth are shown prior to dental work at Paw Prints Animal Hospital and before going to a foster home. Getty Images / AFP
Jazmynne, a veterinary technician, trims the fingernails of a sedated beagle in Waldorf, Maryland. Getty Images / AFP
A beagle rescued from Envigo breeding and research facility waits to be taken to Paw Prints Animal Hospital for a medical check up. Getty Images / AFP
Homeward Trails Animal Rescue partnered with Paw Prints clinic to get rescued pets spayed and neutered as well as dental work, and heartworm treatment done before they are sent to foster homes or adopted. Getty Images / AFP
Once in peril of being tortured, these rescued beagles now run freely. Getty Images / AFP
Homeward Trails has been working to find homes for 500 of the 4,000 beagles recently rescued from Envigo, which was shut down due to multiple violations for animal cruelty. Getty Images / AFP
Jazmynne, a veterinary technician, places a beagle in a calming room after it was recently spayed at Paw Prints Animal Hospital. Getty Images / AFP
The purebred pooches will be available for adoption after getting proper vet care. Getty Images / AFP
Beagles from Homeward Trails Animal Rescue are placed in a transportation vehicle before going to a veterinary clinic for spay and neuter operations. Getty Images / AFP
Volunteers play rescued beagles at Homeward Trails Animal Rescue. Getty Images / AFP
A pup is readied for bedtime. Getty Images / AFP
Staff members with Homeward Trails Animal Rescue place beagles in their crates before their bedtime. Getty Images / AFP
Rescued from potential torture, this beagle may soon have a new home. Getty Images / AFP
Volunteers with Homeward Trails Animal Rescue sit and watch a movie with the lucky dogs. Getty Images / AFP
Volunteers pet and hold the animals daily. Getty Images / AFP
Beagles at Westminster Kennel Dog Show in the UK. Not all of the breed have it so lucky, and animal rights activists have been hitting the streets claiming that a dog's place is in the home, not the lab. AP
Camp Beagle is a protest camp on the roadside set up outside beagle breeder Marshal BioResources Acres in Cambridgeshire, the UK, in August 2021. The company's pups are sold to animal testing laboratories. Sopa Images / LightRocket / Getty
Beagle breeder Marshal BioResources Acres in Cambridgeshire, the UK, sells its puppies to animal testing laboratories. Sopa Images / LightRocket / Getty
A protester outside Marshal BioResources Acres. Sopa Images / LightRocket / Getty
Residents of Camp Beagle and their supporters gather outside Marshal BioResources. Sopa Images / LightRocket / Getty
Singer Will Young during an anti-vivisection demonstration outside the MBR Acres research site in April. Photo: tcm.digital
Young and other activists during an anti-vivisection demonstration outside the MBR Acres research site. Photo: tcm.digital
Protesters rally against Vivotecnia, a laboratory alleged to have used more than 30 beagle puppies for drug research, in Sant Jaume square in Barcelona, Spain, in January. EPA
The protesters in Barcelona took along their own pups. EPA
Vivotecnia is alleged to have used more than 30 beagle pups for drug research. EPA
Beagles at the protest in Barcelona in January. EPA
Keith is an animal rights attorney and runs the Beagle Freedom Project from a Los Angeles home. According to the animal activist, the couple came to meet Mamma Mia "after-hours".
"The duchess is holding Mia and was like: 'We’re adopting her,'" Keith told the newspaper. "She was like: 'No, we don’t want a Christmas puppy … We want ones we can help who are older'."
Both Prince Harry and Meghan are known dog lovers.
Meghan Markle at home in Toronto with her pet dogs. Photo: The Tig / Instagram
Meghan had two dogs, Guy, a beagle , and Bogart, a mixed breed, when she met Prince Harry. Guy moved to London with her, however Bogart remained in Toronto, Canada.
In 2018, the couple adopted a black Labrador rescue dog, who they have named Pula, named after the Botswanan currency, according Omid Scobie's book, Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family. The couple famously went to Botswana for a safari trip on their third date.
A children's book has been written on behalf of the Duchess of Sussex's dog, 'His Royal Dogness, Guy the Beagle: The Rebarkable True Story of Meghan Markle's Rescue Dog' by Camille March and Michael Brumm. Photo: Simon & Schuster
In the same year, children's authors Camille March and Michael Brumm unofficially told Guy's rags to riches story in a book written on his behalf called His Royal Dogness, Guy the Beagle: The Rebarkable True Story of Meghan Markle's Rescue Dog .
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, with a family dog in a throwback post shared by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai. Instagram / Faz3
Baloo, Sheikh Hamdan's dog, is seen here being held by Mohammed bin Ahmed Jaber Al Harbi, known as Maj, the son of the Crown Prince's friend Ahmed Jaber Al Harbi. Instagram / Faz3
Queen Elizabeth II with some of her corgis walking the Cross Country course during the second day of the Windsor Horse Trials in 1980. Reuters
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, with a newborn Prince George in August 2013. Tilly the retriever, a Middleton family pet, and Lupo, the couple's late cocker spaniel, can also be seen. AFP
Japan's Crown Princess Masako and her husband Crown Prince Naruhito with their pet dog Yuri at Togu Palace in Tokyo in December 2018. AFP
Norway's Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Prince Sverre Magnus and Princess Ingrid Alexandra pose with their labradoodle dogs Milly Kakao and Muffins Krakebolle during their holiday on the island of Dvergsoya, near Kristiansand, in July 2020. AFP
Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan relaxing with his dog circa 1960. Getty Images
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, carries her Jack Russell dog Bluebell as she arrives at Battersea Dog and Cats Home on December 12, 2012 in London, England. Getty Images
Prince Charles with his labrador retriever in 1978. Shutterstock
This undated photo shows Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died in 2016, and his dogs at the Royal Palace in Bangkok. AFP
Prince Carl Philip, Princess Sofia and Prince Alexander with Siri in 2016. Erika Gerdemark / Royal Court of Sweden
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, with her rescue dogs, Guy and Bogart. Meghan Markle / Instagram
Dutch royals King Willem Alexander, Queen Maxima, Princess Ariane, Princess Amalia and Princess Alexia have two black labradors, including Nala. AFP
Queen Margrethe of Denmark and the late Prince Consort Henrik pose with their dachshund dogs Evita and Celimene in August 2001. AFP
Edward, Duke of Windsor, and his wife, Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, arrive with pet pugs at Saint-Lazare train station in Paris, in May 1960. AFP
King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia with their pet dog, Brandy, in December 2019. Sara Friberg / Royal Court of Sweden
A young Queen Victoria and her dog Dash, painted by George Hayter. Royal Collection Trust / Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Alexandra of Denmark with two of her pet dogs in 1901. Getty Images
Zara Phillips with Sway, the boxer. Getty Images
Princess Anne has owned a number of bull terrier dogs. She is seen here driving her Land Rover Discovery as she attends the Gatcombe Horse Trials at Gatcombe Park in March 2019. Getty Images
Updated: August 25, 2022, 6:49 AM