Yahoo Finance Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia's Dog Rescued by Quick-Thinking Local After Running Away
Erika Gerdemark/Kungahuset.se Siri with Prince Carl Philip, Princess Sofia and Prince Alexander.
Prince Carl Philip of Sweden's dog has proven that it's not just cats who have nine lives.
The little terrier — named Siri — was recently discovered walking alone through wintery Djurgården royal park in Stockholm, and only made it back home safely thanks to the quick thinking of a pair of locals.
"We jumped out of the car and started walking a little closer," Angelina Berge, 20, told the Expressen newspaper about the first moment they spotted Siri wandering alone in the park, where the 42-year-old prince shares a home with wife Princess Sofia, 36, and their children Prince Alexander, 5, Prince Gabriel, 4, and Prince Julian, 8 months.
"Then we saw that it was a lone dog walking on some kind of trail," she added.
Initially, Berge thought the little dog could belong to a nearby family who was enjoying an afternoon in the park. That all changed, however, when the tiny pooch started to follow them instead.
Prinsparet/ instagram Prince Carl Philip, Prince Julian, Princess Sofia, Prince Gabriel and Prince Alexander
"The dog was very calm, and you could see that she had walked there before and recognized the road," Berge said. "We understood that she had probably run away. We patted her and tried to make her feel safe."
Berge then noticed a phone number on a badge hanging around Siri's neck but despite both calling and texting they couldn't raise anyone at the other end of the line. They also were unable to reach an animal unit of the Stockholm police.
Finally, having exhausted all avenues, Berge's friend jokingly quipped, "The prince lives here, does he not have a dog?" The throwaway comment lit a spark in Berge's mind.
Prinsparet/Instagram Prince Carl Philip, Princess Sofia, Prince Alexander, Prince Gabriel, and Prince Julian
"I searched on Google and got an article saying that the prince's dog had previously escaped," she told Expressen about a 2018 break for freedom, which resulted in Siri being driven home by the police.
"I saw the picture of the dog and fell to my knees — I could not stop laughing because it was so heavenly comical," she continued. "We started talking to the dog and said her name: 'Siri, Siri!'
"She was super happy. Then we realized that it was probably the prince's dog."
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Having cracked the case, Berge and her friend picked up the exhausted pooch and physically carried her across the park to the front door of the prince's home, called Villa Solbacken.
"We pinged at the prince and princess' house," said Berge. "Prince Carl Philip came down with his son and fetched the dog. He was so very nice and kind and thanked us again and again."
"It was so weird," she continued. "We had no idea it was the prince's dog from the beginning. We were all kind of shocked and thought what are the odds that this will happen to us?'"
