Prince William and Prince Harry love hunting as does their dear father, Prince Charles and their grandpa, Prince Philip! In fact the British Royal Family are ardent hunters who shoot and kill wild animals purely for sporting pleasure on a regular basis. Yet Prince William and Prince Charles are also patrons of various wildlife protection charities and organizations – in fact the ostensible reason for Kate Middleton and Will’s NYC vacation is charity work for United for Wildlife, hypocritical much?
The royal family’s attitude towards shooting and hunting is frankly almost archaic, and has caused them a lot of grief with the media and the public. However, it doesn’t seem to stop them from doing what they want to do, which is generally act in increasingly hypocritical and controversial ways. For example, Prince Charles was photographed holding a hunting gun on the Sandringham estates recently, which is in hypocritical stance to his perceived support for animal rights causes.
Shoot the animals and then support the animals? How would that even work? And hunting isn’t even safe for the environment, largely due to the lead coming from the shotgun cartridges.
Of course, the royals have fallen back on their fail-safe response – that the photographs were taken illegally, and weren’t in ‘perspective’. Right. Considering that Sandringham actually falls between public and private roads, it’s actually not impossible to get photographs without trespassing.
And keep in mind, Prince Charles isn’t the only member of the royal family to come under fire for hunting. Prince William and Prince Harry – both of whom are supposedly avid supporters of environmental causes and several endangered animal causes – were criticized for participating in a wild boar hunt in Spain in 2012, and Harry was also photographed a few years ago, crouched above the dead body of a water buffalo.
Now, Prince Charles isn’t yet King of England, but if he doesn’t want to lose what little public support he has left, he might think about stopping the hunting completely. Otherwise, he’ll be branded a hypocrite in addition to all the other names the media has already bestowed him with.
What do you guys think? Should Prince Charles lay off the guns and the shooting, especially as he attempts his slow takeover of the throne? Or is the media and the public over-reacting to what has long been a royal tradition? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
