Gunmakers have long touted their connections to royalty. Even the names they give their guns borrow from it, with old catalogues chock-a-block with Royal, Regal and Crown models. Indeed, fieldsports have long been a passion of British monarchs and their families. The New Forest was planted in 1079 as a hunting reserve for William I, so the king could indulge in his favourite sport of hunting deer.
Perhaps inadvertently, these royal hunting habits laid the foundations for the conservation of the environment at the expense of the needs of agriculture and human habitation.
Ancient kings valued forests teeming with deer at a time when, if left unchecked, the old story of habitat loss and poaching could quite easily have sent the native deer species the same way as the lynx, boar and wolf, all of which were extinct in mainland Britain by around 1700.
Instead, they have maintained some fabulous habitat, which has provided hunting and shooting grounds for generations of royal sportsmen from William the Conqueror to William, our future King. In between, shooting obsessed monarchies the world over have been customers of our best gun and rifle makers, seeking the very finest sporting kit with which to engage their preferred quarry.
If we were to construct a historic line of royal Guns for an all-star team, it might look like this.
1 Maharajah Duleep Singh and sons
The resident of Elveden on the Norfolk-Suffolk border, the last king of the Sikhs was brought to England as a 15-year-old. His sons Victor (pictured below, first on left) and Frederick were both fine Shots and took part in shooting the record bag of 10,807 partridges and 5,771 pheasants at Highclere in 1895.
Esta historia es de la edición May 19, 2021 de Shooting Times & Country.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición May 19, 2021 de Shooting Times & Country.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
United we stand
Following United Utilities' decision to end grouse shooting on its land, Lindsay Waddell asks what will happen if we ignore our vital moors
Serious matters
An old gamebook prompts a contemplation on punt-gunning
They're not always as easy as they seem
While coneys of the furry variety don't pose a problem for Blue Zulu, he's left frustrated once again by bolting bunnies of the clay sort
Debutant gundogs
There's lots to think about when it comes to making the decision about when to introduce your dog to shooting
When the going gets rough
Al Gabriel returns to the West London Shooting School to brush up on his rough shooting technique
The Field Guide To British Deer - BDS 60th Anniversary Edition
In this excerpt from the 60th anniversary edition of the BDS's Field Guide To British Deer, Charles Smith-Jones considers the noise they make
A step too far?
Simon Garnham wonders whether a new dog, a new gun and two different fields in need of protection might have been asking too much for one afternoon's work
Two bucks before breakfast
A journey from old South London to rural Hertfordshire to stalk muntjac suggests that the two aren't as far detached as they might seem
Stalking Diary
Stalkers can be a sentimental bunch, and they often carry a huge attachment to their hill
Gamekeeper
Alan Edwards believes unique, private experiences can help keepers become more competent and passionate custodians of the countryside