Freya ( – 4 August 2022) was a cat who was employed as the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office from 2012 to 2014 as the pet of the

chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...

George Osborne George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born 23 May 1971) is a British retired politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the Cameron government. A ...

, and his family. In September 2012, Freya shared the role of chief mouser to the Cabinet Office with Larry. In November 2014, she was retired from the position to the

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

countryside but ended up staying in the

Oval An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas of mathematics (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.), it is given a more precise definition, which may inc ...

area of London. She died in August 2022.

Life and career

Freya went missing from the Osbornes' house in

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a wikt:cosmopolitan, cosmopolitan and multiculturalism, multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting ...

when she was just a few months old, and after searching West London for her, the family assumed she had died or had become lost. In June 2012, Osborne's wife

Frances Frances is an English given name or last name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'the French.' The male version of the name in English is Francis (given name), Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "F ...

received a call telling her that Freya was alive, and the family brought her home. On 16 September 2012, Nigel Nelson from ''

The People The People may refer to: Legal jargon * The People, term used to refer to the people in general, in legal documents * "We the People of the United States", from the Preamble to the U. S. Constitution * In philosophy, economics, and political scienc ...

'' reported that the prime minister,

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

, had sacked Larry from his position as chief mouser to the Cabinet Office and installed Freya instead. Nelson claimed that Cameron had become fed up with Larry's laziness. Nelson explained: Cameron drafted in Freya to patrol Numbers 10, 11 and 12 Downing Street as she was a "tougher" and a "more street-wise predator." Freya was reported to be the more dominant cat over Larry and a more effective mouser, reportedly because her time as a stray had "hardened" her. In October 2012, police had to break up a fight between Larry and Freya outside Number 10. ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' reported that Freya "appeared to have the best of the confrontation". The prime minister's spokeswoman stated that Freya and Larry were able to "co-exist" and added that she would not comment further on the two cats' adventures. In May 2014, Freya strayed over a mile from Downing Street and had to be rescued and returned by a charity worker. In August 2014, Freya was hit by a car in

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...

and was subsequently treated by a vet. Osborne said that he was "very grateful" to those who came to the aid of his pet. Following these events, Freya was sent to the

countryside to allow her to exercise her desire to roam. In February 2015 she moved to the Oval area of London, to live with the Head of Government Hospitality, Robert Alexander. Alexander tweeted that Freya died on 4 August 2022, at the age of 13.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freya (cat) 2009 animal births 2022 animal deaths Individual cats in the United Kingdom Chief mousers to the Cabinet Office Female mammals

Life and career

See also

References