An animal rights group aiming to eliminate real fur from the bearskin caps worn by the King’s Guards at Buckingham Palace spotlighted the rising cost of the ceremonial attire on Thursday. The price of the caps has surged 30% over the past year, now exceeding £2,000 ($2,600) each, according to data released by the Ministry of Defense in response to a request by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
“Stop wasting taxpayer pounds on caps made from slaughtered wildlife and switch to faux fur today,” PETA urged in a statement. The organization also highlighted that a luxury fake fur manufacturer has offered to supply the army with free faux bear fur for a decade.
The military has expressed willingness to consider alternatives, provided they meet the stringent criteria for durability, water resistance, and appearance. However, a ministry spokesperson noted, “no alternative has met all those criteria to date.”
The iconic tall black hats, paired with the guards’ bright scarlet tunics, are a staple of the regular changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace and other royal events, including the annual Trooping the Color ceremony in June. The Ministry of Defense revealed that the cost of the caps increased from £1,560 ($2,035) each in 2022 to £2,040 ($2,660) in 2023, with over £1 million ($1.3 million) spent on them in the past decade.
The price hike resulted from a change in the contract for fur sourced from bears killed in licensed hunts in Canada. According to PETA, each cap requires one bear pelt, and the organization has been advocating for more than two decades to replace the fur hats, accusing the defense department of supporting the “cruel” Canadian bear-hunting industry.
The ministry refuted this claim, asserting that halting purchases of the pelts would not affect the number of bears being hunted. Parliament debated the issue in July 2022 following an online petition with over 100,000 signatures calling for the adoption of fake fur in the caps. During the debate, Martyn Day, then a Scottish National Party member of Parliament, described the hunting process as violent, with many bears suffering multiple gunshot wounds. He argued that by continuing to buy the real bearskin hats, the Ministry of Defense was financially supporting the suffering of bears in Canada.
Day cited a poll indicating that 75% of the U.K. population believed using real bearskins was a poor use of taxpayer money and favored replacing the hats. He also pointed out that the late Queen Elizabeth II had stopped incorporating fur into her wardrobe.
Earlier this year, Queen Camilla, wife of King Charles III, pledged not to purchase any more fur products.
