Karl Smallman
JUST days before launching a campaign to highlight poaching and the illegal wildlife trade Prince William, accompanied by Prince Harry, has jetted into Spain for a hunting trip.
The royal brothers are staying at a luxury hunting lodge on the country estate near Cordoba – owned by the Duke of Westminster – one of the richest men in Britain.
The pair shot wild boar and stags at the exclusive 37,000-hectare property Finca La Garganta, near the village of Conquista, on the border of Castilla La Mancha.
Contained within the 40 mile perimeter – patrolled by armed guards in 4x4s – the Finca has its own private train station, petrol station and accommodation for 100 staff.
The brothers try to go shooting at least once a year on the estate owned by the Duke of Westminster, who is William’s godfather.
According to reports, William and Harry separately flew into Sevilla on Thursday before leaving for the estate with friends and some Scotland Yard protection officers.
It is understood that the Duchess of Cambridge, and their son, Prince George, are at home in the UK.
Princes William and Harry are no strangers to Andalucia having visited the region on several occasions in recent years.
The brothers have visited the estate in the past, with the Duke of Cornwall believed to have visited with his then girlfriend Kate Middleton, a couple of years ago.
A Kensington Palace spokesman last night declined to talk about the trip.
Wild boar are not endangered. I hope he enjoyed himself!
Using wild , or any, animals , for target practice is sick and disgusting, I thought the example of that idiot King of Spain and his elephant shooting excess might have set an example to our Royals but evidently they are too thick to see it.
There is nothing ” moderate” about using live animals for target practice
OK,remove ” idiot” .
Really,
they were’nt shooting for food but for fun – some fun. There is an ex-pat in the USA and he posts on an audio forum – ‘I’ll call deer hunting a sport when the deer have rifles’ ditto les sanglier.
Why do we have to put up with these dreadful people, both possible kings, no thank you, pack them off back to Germany and Denmark.
A pair of spoilt brats, living on benefits, courtesy of the British tax-payer. They don’t even have to “sign on” or attend a job centre. Nice work if you can get it. And they can!
No problem with them spending money in Spain, but maybe they should be supporting the colonies by going ape hunting on the rock of Gibraltar.
No they don’t Stefanjo. They live off their father and he gets nothing from the taxpayer.
This saddens the soul and challenges the whole concept of the term ‘royal’. Without mercy or compassion ‘royalty’ has no substance. These wealthy ‘royals’ have no need to kill on order to feed or to amuse themselves.
They reveal themselves as basic in instinct, with more time and money on their hands than they know what to do with. They have little concern for even their own fellow countrymen in the UK and Spain who are calling for help for real problems.
What chance have animals? As an animal advocate seeing the effect of animal cruelty every day my spirit ‘groans’ to see this ‘royal’ behaviour. I feel deep shame on their behalf.
I have seen more sense of nobility and compassion in darkest Africa. Just as the King of Spain was recently badly censured by a caring percentage of the public let these three British ‘princes’ not embarrass the public with their hypocrisy of being ‘caring’ or asking others not to hunt illegally. What a farce! They are, sadly, no different from the common killers who dare to call themselves ‘sportsmen.’ I doubt if this was their mother’s chosen legacy for her sons.
Born with a need to kill for food and pleasure may have fulfilled a need in medieval days but not now. Let there be a public petition to let people express their revulsion.
Iestyn : Weasel words. ALL these people (I use the term loosely) are parasites on the National Body. The sooner we are rid of them and their medieval attitudes, the better.
“Their father” has wealth he didn’t earn. Don’t recall him working his way up from field-hand to multi-millionaire land-owner. Bring on The Republic. It works pretty well in Germany.
Joe Bloggs in the UK has a lot more freedom than old Max Mustermann in Germany. Believe me, I have personal experience in this. I’d much rather live under a liberal, democratic, constitutional monarchy than a dirigiste republic. Plus the British monarchy costs a lot less to fund than the German presidency, and is also a tourist draw so adds to the economy. Schloss Bellevue is not exactly high on the list of Berlin tourist attractions it it?
They have turned into 2 vile people. It is unfortunate that we English are lumbered with these pathetics as our rulers. I presume they ate what they killed, if not the meat should have been forced down their throats.
2 faced gits as with others who have so much spare time that the killing fields are their main pleasure.
Iestyn ap Robert
Do you have a reference on the costs of the German presidency v UK monarchy, please. It’s an aspect I would seriously like to consider. Anyone who knows where I’m likely to find similar cost of heads of government statistics is encouraged to post.
IaP,
I’ve lived in the Netherlands and worked in Germany as well.
Neither country has the appallingly undemocratic system of voting as in the UK. Neither country is lider mundial in CCTV cameras. The police in both countries are’nt always killing people in cold blood, lying about it and getting away with it, indeed often being promoted.
Both countries (like the rest of the EU) issue identity cards that have to be carried and used for all financial transactions, the UK is a honey pot for fraudsters. In the Netherlands (at least when I lived there) if you moved to a different part of the country you had to re-register with the local police.
If you object to these social safety methods you must be a villain of some kind – I am not a thief/con artist/hard drug dealer or professional criminal so no problem for me and I would like to see exactly the same measures introduced into the UK.
I would also like to send these Hanoverians back to their own country, minus the wealth they have accrued – when they arrived in England they were potless.