The Queen Ditches Fur This Winter
For centuries, the royal family has worn the most extravagant garments during their public appearances, with a mink collar often being seen lining the Queen’s grand coat.
This has long set the precedent that fur is a luxury product demonstrating wealth and prestige, making it a high fashion product with the price tag to match.
However, this year the Queen has decided to ditch fur and from now on all garments made for the monarch, including coats, hats and ceremonial robes, will be made with faux fur.
Angela Kelly, the Queen’s long time dressmaker and confidante, reveals in her new memoir: “If Her Majesty is due to attend an engagement in particularly cold weather, from 2019 onwards fake fur will be used to make sure she stays warm”.
This is a massive step forward for animal rights, as it sets the benchmark that fur is no longer a fashion statement but instead an inherently cruel product that an animal has massively and unnecessarily suffered for.
A recent investigation into a Finnish fur farm that supplies the UK found minks and foxes left in filthy battery cages, some with untreated infected wounds and others left to die. In the most extreme case, activists found the animals cannibalising each other.
The UK has banned fur farming since 2000, yet its sale as a designer clothing item has continued. Now it’s time for a blanket ban on the importing and sale of all animal products for fashion and beyond.
Lex Rigby, Viva!’s Campaigns Manager said: “We wholeheartedly support the Queen’s decision to stop supporting the cruel fur trade. Investigations into fur farms show animals trapped in barren, filthy cages and showing signs of extreme trauma. They are often killed in horrendously inhumane ways all for what some people deem ‘high fashion’.
The Queen’s decision to move to faux fur reflects the changing attitudes of the British public and sets a precedent that exploiting animals for fashion is unacceptable. We hope this will encourage UK policy makers to ban the sale of fur all together and create a society that protects animals from this cruelty.”
Sign the petition for a #furfree Britain here.
About the author
Louisa Kendal
Louisa is the Digital Communications Officer at Viva! Louisa has been vegan for four years and is passionate about eradicating injustices and exploitation in our world. After graduating from the University of Bristol with a degree in Theology, she worked as a journalist in Malaysia before joining Viva!'s marketing team. She now leverages social media and the online world to forward the vegan movement and keep Viva! growing in influence. Click here for more info.
