King Charles III owns all the great white swans in England. The reason is curiosity

Since the Middle Ages, British monarchs have been able to lay claim to all white swans that swam in open water.

In addition to the crown, Charles III also inherited the swans of the United Kingdom from his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. Technically, the British monarch doesn’t own all the swans in the country, but he does Power to claim any snow swan Swim in open water on public land.

Charles III is expected to follow his mother’s lead and exercise this power only in parts of the Thames and its tributaries. British royalty also has officers whose duties are entirely linked to swans, meaning someone in charge Take the Swans survey Monday of the third week of July every year.

But where did this tradition come from? The origin may be traced back to the British nobility’s obsession with these birds in the Middle Ages, he writes IFLScience.

“Swans were a very important source of food back then and were served Feasts and feasts for the rich. Over time, different peoples owned swans. The Crown granted them the right to acquire them. They had babies and fattened them up for the Christmas holidays,” David Barber, Queen Elizabeth’s royal swansong for decades, explains to Reuters.

From at least 1186, monarchs owned white swans. There are reports that Henry III commissioned 40 swans for Christmas celebrations in 1247. A symbol of status Social for aristocracy.

There are even rumors that killing a swan in England is treason, but the truth is not. The law is unclear, but according to the UK Law Commission, “It is illegal to kill a Queen’s Snow White Swan, but It is never an act of betrayal”.