The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have adopted a beagle called Mamma Mia.

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.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Mamma Mia was 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 newspaper: “The duchess called me personally.”

She added: “She calls on my cell with no Caller ID and says, ‘Hey Shannon, this is Meghan.”

Ms Keith said they talked for 30 minutes and she wondered if it was Megan Fox, but it was indeed the Duchess of Sussex.

The newspaper said Meghan and Harry made an after-hours visit and played with Mia who had been brought there with eight of her newborn puppies.

Ms Keith told the Los Angeles Times: “The duchess is holding Mia and was like, ‘We’re adopting her.’”

“She was like, ‘No, we don’t want a Christmas puppy. … We want ones we can help who are older.’”

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 has previously said the pair of rescue dogs “mean the absolute world” to her and has referred to them as “my loves” and “my boys”.

Guy and Bogart regularly featured on her Instagram account, with Guy even appearing in a patriotic knitted Union flag jumper.

Meghan often used the #adoptdontshop hashtag in her Instagram posts.

It was American comedian and chat show host Ellen DeGeneres who convinced Meghan to adopt Bogart, her first pet, after she bumped into her in a shelter.

The Queen is the royal best known for her love of dogs.

In their engagement interview in 2017, Harry revealed the Queen’s corgis and dorgis took to Meghan “straight away”.

He said: “And the corgis took to you straight away.

“I’ve spent the last 33 years being barked at; this one walks in, absolutely nothing…”

Describing the moment, Meghan said: “Just laying on my feet during tea, it was very sweet.”

And Harry added: “…just wagging tails and I was just like argh.”