Prince Charles tried to stop Tony Blair from banning hunting with hounds, in letters released this week.
The Prince of Wales lobbied the then British Prime Minister not to outlaw the sport in a 2002 letter. His letter reads: “There is … complete bewilderment that the Government is apparently responding to calls to ban something which is genuinely environmentally friendly, which uses no modern technology, which does not pollute the countryside, which is completely natural – in that it relies entirely on man’s ancient and, indeed, romantic relationship with dogs and horses.”
The Hunting Act 2004 became law in February 2005 and chasing foxes with hounds has been illegal ever since.
Prince Charles is a big supporter of the sport and he had been going to hunting meets since his twenties.
He had been previously reported as saying that if the ban ever came in “I might as well leave this country and spend the rest of my life skiing.”
