Source:
https://scmp.com/news/world/article/1728601/british-royals-ivory-collection-may-haunt-prince-williams-anti-poaching
China

British royals’ ivory stash may dent Prince William’s anti-poaching message in China

Carved tusks are exhibited alongside a tiger skin

Even future kings have skeletons clattering around in their cupboard – just ask Britain’s Prince William.

The Duke of Cambridge could run the risk being labelled a hypocrite on his trip to Yunnan on Wednesday where he will highlight the peril wreaked by poachers on Africa’s dwindling elephant population as part of his official trip to China.

Prince William, a vocal animal welfare activist, will travel to Xishuangbanna and visit an elephant rehabilitation centre where he will make a keynote speech urging zero tolerance on poaching from China.

But he might choose to omit from his “Save the elephant’ rally call the existence of his family’s collection of stuffed big game animals, elephant tusks and rhino horns.

Mounted animal heads on show at Sandringham
Mounted animal heads on show at Sandringham
Hoping to counter any controversy during the prince’s three-day visit, Beijing late last week announced its token ivory carvings ban and circulated images of hauls confiscated from smugglers who feed the apparently insatiable Chinese appetite for the critical endangered commodity.

Yet the British royal family still keeps a substantial collection of ivory on their Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England.

The contentious trophies from bygone royal hunting parties were on view to the public at Sandringham museum, located in the gardens of Sandringham House, until it closed for Christmas last year –where these photographs were taken.

The collection includes rhino and their horns, ivory elephant tusks, stuffed lions and leopard skins. It was assembled from historic big game shoots the British royal family embarked on over the centuries in its African colonies.

The photos could undermine the prince’s speech on Wednesday by adding fuel to the claim by the Chinese that the West routinely harangues them for habits Westerners themselves indulged in in the not-too-distant past.

Last Thursday’s one year ban on ivory carving by China has been criticised for falling short of the demands by the signatories, among them celebrated British naturalist Sir David Attenborough.

Prince William’s younger brother, Prince Harry, was slated when photos recently circulated of him posing with a rifle over dead water buffalo he shot during an African hunting safari in 2004.