Denmark’s royals have long since enjoyed exclusive hunting laws, but politicians are now saying it is time for that to come to an end.
The Danish royal family have been able to hunt freely in more than 200 of the country’s best forests, with the nature agency Naturstyrelsen having to pay the costs for these exclusive rights.
The area, 214 forests to be exact, is reserved purely for royal use and makes up almost a third of the Scandinavian country’s state-managed forests, while the agency provides personnel, buildings and vehicles for the royals to use.
However, politicians are now applying pressure for the rights to be scrapped, and for the prime land to be open for everyone to enjoy; this would also help raise fund for the treasury. Red-Green Alliance MP Per Clausen insists that the “abuse of state funds” must stop and that the royal family must be told to pay for their hunts.
The royal hunting grounds list hasn’t changed since 1947, while the rights were first put in place in 1849. In recent times, the royal family has only used roughly a third of the almost 64,000 hectares (247 sq m) of land they are entitled to.
Environment officials, meanwhile, have claimed that there are indications from the royal household that they could be willing to negotiate the public use of the forests.