The Royal Hunt: 2003, 2005-2014, 2016-2023


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Why?

It's more dignified than what happens at a slaughterhouse or for that matter on a poultry-farm or a pork-factory.
And please keep in mind that not all can afford the luxury of becoming a vegan.

If the population of deer is not kept down, the population will grow with up to 300.000 deer a year in DK alone!
After a few years they can't find anything to eat in the forests, moors and meadows, and as such they have to get closer to people, into the towns and cities - and here they will encounter the top-predator: the car.
Apart from that, when there is a surplus population nature will cut the number in a very brutal way: starvation and decease. The youngest, the oldest and the sick will die first - over weeks. You don't die from starvation in a couple of hours.

So what is better? To close the eyes for how brutal nature is? Or in the absence of enough predators, show children how culling takes place and doing it in a way that is not as garish as butchering the animals?

Nature is not Disney. There is no agreement between the wilder beasts and the lions about "the law of the wild".
I believe if wildebeests and giraffes were able to vote, they would vote overwhelmingly for a motion to exterminate all lions.

Harsh words, I know. I'm an animal lover too, but since I live in the countryside I see with my own eyes what happens during ice-winters or when there are too many animals around.
 
They even slaughtered Foxes! It´s unworthy and disgusting!

Nobody could act that way if he/ she hasn´t been brought up to do it. And that´s how it works. Of course the CPly children will be keen hunters, too, one day.... And that´s why this "tradition" within aristocratic and royal families (no role models here, IMO) goes on and on.
The danish royal family´s closest relative, the greek Royals, especially the older sons of CP Pavlos have so much fun in shooting down proudly and with great enjoyment all sorts of birds I´m always shocked where this brutality comes from! And believe me, they do not do it because they want these creatures having not a cruel death during the harsh winter or not to be killed by another species....!
 
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Foxes must be shot with rifles and not shotguns in DK. Anyway, too many foxes end up spreading deceases, also in towns and suburbs - which again can be contracted by dogs.
 
Muhler said:
Why?

It's more dignified than what happens at a slaughterhouse or for that matter on a poultry-farm or a pork-factory.
And please keep in mind that not all can afford the luxury of becoming a vegan.

If the population of deer is not kept down, the population will grow with up to 300.000 deer a year in DK alone!
After a few years they can't find anything to eat in the forests, moors and meadows, and as such they have to get closer to people, into the towns and cities - and here they will encounter the top-predator: the car.
Apart from that, when there is a surplus population nature will cut the number in a very brutal way: starvation and decease. The youngest, the oldest and the sick will die first - over weeks. You don't die from starvation in a couple of hours.

So what is better? To close the eyes for how brutal nature is? Or in the absence of enough predators, show children how culling takes place and doing it in a way that is not as garish as butchering the animals?

Nature is not Disney. There is no agreement between the wilder beasts and the lions about "the law of the wild".
I believe if wildebeests and giraffes were able to vote, they would vote overwhelmingly for a motion to exterminate all lions.

Harsh words, I know. I'm an animal lover too, but since I live in the countryside I see with my own eyes what happens during ice-winters or when there are too many animals around.
Click to expand...

I agree with you
 
Oh Dear.

I thought Australia didn't pay much attention to what goes on in Denmark unless Mary and Frederik are here in Oz, but today's political cartoon shows someone is watching.

The daily Sydney newspaper, "The Daily Telegraph", publishes a political cartoon each day, taking up a third of a page.

And today's cartoon, under the heading "Christmas in Denmark", has poor Rudolph and the other reindeer bleeding on the snow as Mary, Frederik and Margarethe hold their fire-arms and smile.

Even poor Santa Claus looks to have taken a bullet.

Well, somebody is taking an interest in the Royal comings and going it seems.

And at least the children - only two are shown - are shedding tears.
 
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Oops.

Just came across an article in the same newspaper - "Bloody Mary's Little Dears".

"Bambi must seem like a hilarious comedy to Princess Mary's kids after this horror show."

Words in the reports include "slaughtered", "Christmas parade", "slain animals littered the palace lawn", the children "stared on wide-eyed".

(I read the newspaper from the back to the front - so now I see the point of the cartoon as posted above.)

A couple of photos are with the report.

(You may get your point of view in the paper if you email them at the Letters to the Editor section - anyone who wants to explain Danish traditions.)
 
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Sun Lion said:
Oops.

Just came across an article in the same newspaper - "Bloody Mary's Little Dears".

"Bambi must seem like a hilarious comedy to Princess Mary's kids after this horror show."

Words in the reports include "slaughtered", "Christmas parade", "slain animals littered the palace lawn", the children "stared on wide-eyed".

(I read the newspaper from the back to the front - so now I see the point of the cartoon as posted above.)

A couple of photos are with the report.




(You may get your point of view in the paper if you email them at the Letters to the Editor section - anyone who wants to explain Danish traditions.)
Click to expand...
We indeed need to know where food comes from. In native North American tradition, animals are slaughtered after giving thanks for sharing a life so that others may live. Death is never pretty, but as Muhler points out, the alternative is worse. Bravo Crown Prince and Princess for introducing your children to real life...and death.:flowers:
 
The UK version of "The Daily Mail" is now covering this also - and not in a positive way.

As this isn't the first time little children have been to this, I wonder what has changed.

(I'm assuming this isn't covered in this way year after year by Oz and UK media - maybe I missed it and this has drawn harsh criticism before.)
 
The hunt has drawn criticism every year in the media and here on the Forum.
 
Sun Lion said:
The coverage is coming across as very hard and un-forgiving.

Perhaps in time, if Royals are concerned about being modern and in step with the common person, this will have to be let go of.
Click to expand...
But the "common person" in Denmark and the rest of the Nordic countries hunt too, you know...Lots of them. And the meat is eaten.

Life is not Disney's Bambi and cartoons with Rudolf the reindeer. Where I live, it's not possible to serve British tourist local reindeer meat, because they can't eat "Rudolf the reindeer". ;) If they were told it was veal (from a cute little calf), they would probably eat it quite happily.

Yesterday, I read about the first 100/500 (at the time) posts from Danes on BT facebook re the Australian article. "Get lost Aussies", or something similar, was the general reaction from the Danes. No criticism toward the Royals there, I'm afraid.
 
Nordic said:
But the "common person" in Denmark and the rest of the Nordic countries hunt too, you know...Lots of them. And the meat is eaten.

Life is not Disney's Bambi and cartoons with Rudolf the reindeer. Where I live, it's not possible to serve British tourist local reindeer meat, because they can't eat "Rudolf the reindeer". ;) If they were told it was veal (from a cute little calf), they would probably eat it quite happily.

Yesterday, I read about the first 100/500 (at the time) posts from Danes on BT facebook re the Australian article. "Get lost Aussies", or something similar, was the general reaction from the Danes. No criticism toward the Royals there, I'm afraid.
Click to expand...


Sorry Nordic, I had already deleted my post that you've responded to - before yours was posted.

I really just wanted to thank Katrianna for the heads-up that this is something that has been criticised in past years.

I deleted my post and used the "Thanks" button instead, as I thought I wasn't making any points worth anyone's attention in my post.

Please don't get the idea Australians care one way or the other about this - we cull even our koalas at times, and nobody eats them.

The report and the cartoon were from the media and anyone sitting in Denmark thinking this on the minds of people here is wrong.
 
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As for the outcry of attending of Josephine and Vincent at the hunt:

What is wrong with children seeing dead animals? It helps them to see what has to be done to have meat to eat.

I grew up on a farm and my father was assistent on hunts. Often, very often I had seen pigs or cows being slaughered or the at the hunt killed animals. It is natural that animals must be killed. Hunting helps to keep the balance of the nature and helps to keep the woods "healthy".

If children should not see dead animals: What about a dead cat at the street? What about a dead mouse killed by a cat? This is nature! Not more, not less.
 
melina premiere said:
I hate the hunt but seeing the children looking at the corps of those poor animals
It is not a human behaviour even if the princess Mary is elegant , it is a SHAME
Click to expand...
Indeed, it is not! Not every deer is Bambi's mother and the circle of life id essential for children to know. It is not as if the deer are culled and their carcases left to rot where they drop.

Here, just as in Australia and many, many, other countries, hunting is a sport indulged by the so-called "elite" (not that we have many of those in Australasia) and definitely, the "common-man". It is a sport like any other but at least this Hunt has a purpose even if the sorry sentimentalists would rather they were not culled and left to starve and die. Obviously, that is so much more humane!
 
The Royal Hunt at Fredensborg: 2003, 2005-2014, 2016

I think I posted more in depth about the issue last year, but I'm against hunting (I understand the counter arguments however; it's just my personal view point) though I'm a bit of a townie - I've never lived in the countryside so I haven't grown up with or known anyone who hunts. Additionally it's a royal tradition shared by lots of other RFs around the world too; so, in spite of the regular opposition the Hunt gets, I doubt it will stop soon.

On a slightly different note, Josephine and Vincent are super cute. Vincent has gotten quite tall, too! He appears to be a little taller than Josephine.
 
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Personally I don't oppose hunting per se, but this mass killing and displaying leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Huntings like this aren't there to sustain the family with meat, it's fun for them.

I mean I also find the mass of meat at every supermarket disgusting, how much it is and how much more we waste it. We don't appreciate meat anymore (well I don't eat it, but you get the gist) and seen it as a given.
 
Muhler said:
Why?

It's more dignified than what happens at a slaughterhouse or for that matter on a poultry-farm or a pork-factory.
And please keep in mind that not all can afford the luxury of becoming a vegan.

If the population of deer is not kept down, the population will grow with up to 300.000 deer a year in DK alone!
After a few years they can't find anything to eat in the forests, moors and meadows, and as such they have to get closer to people, into the towns and cities - and here they will encounter the top-predator: the car.
Apart from that, when there is a surplus population nature will cut the number in a very brutal way: starvation and decease. The youngest, the oldest and the sick will die first - over weeks. You don't die from starvation in a couple of hours.

So what is better? To close the eyes for how brutal nature is? Or in the absence of enough predators, show children how culling takes place and doing it in a way that is not as garish as butchering the animals?

Nature is not Disney. There is no agreement between the wilder beasts and the lions about "the law of the wild".
I believe if wildebeests and giraffes were able to vote, they would vote overwhelmingly for a motion to exterminate all lions.

Harsh words, I know. I'm an animal lover too, but since I live in the countryside I see with my own eyes what happens during ice-winters or when there are too many animals around.
Click to expand...

When my parents moved to Northern California (Napa and later Grass Valley) in the 1990's I was introduced to a life in a rural area. Mule deer were abundant there and unfortunately they were frequently hit by cars/trucks. In Grass Valley they did have mountain lions and bears to contend with as two of the top predators in the food chain. Every few years a virus would come along and thin out the herds, but in other years there was regulated hunting to help keep the population at a manageable size.

As you pointed out Muhler, nature is not Disney so hunting is a means of keeping things in balance.
 
Fürstin Taxis said:
[...]
I mean I also find the mass of meat at every supermarket disgusting, how much it is and how much more we waste it. We don't appreciate meat anymore (well I don't eat it, but you get the gist) and seen it as a given.
Click to expand...

Germany has 80 million inhabitants and almost none of them owns an own cow, pig, chicken or rabbit. Day in, day out these packed supermarkets provide in food for the man in Oberhausen, the woman in Paderborn and that kid in Mainz. Those displays packed with meat are necessary. When there is a strike or a congestion, in two days the whole meat department in the supermarket only has empty shelves....

The royal hunt is necessary for preservation, by lack of natural enemies and to maintain a healthy population. But indeed, that display of dead animals is no pretty sight.
 
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Fürstin Taxis said:
Huntings like this aren't there to sustain the family with meat, it's fun for them.
Click to expand...
In case of the DRF then the meat ARE to sustain the family. The meat is being used to (state)dinners at the royal palaces. So it´s not just for the fun of it.
 
A little detail from the hunt: https://app.box.com/s/muqrkfwseh0miox17glusm5paw36w7sr

You'll notice Vincent having taken off his sixpence.
He was told to by farmor Margrethe. At the end of a traditional hunt, the burglars play for the animals while the hunters take off their headgear as a sign of respect.
 
Aha. I see Mary is still wearing her beanie/head gear. So does that mean that only the men have to take off their headwear?
 
I don't know.
Is a beanie (hue in DK) even considered a (proper) hat?

And I doubt QMII would tap Mary on the shoulders and tell her to remove her beanie anyway.
 
:previous:

Indeed very atmospheric! You can nearly feel and smell the cold, wet autumn woodair..

Here's another gallery from yesterday:

** belga gallery **
 
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