Queen will no longer wear real fur: Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace says Queen Elizabeth II will no longer wear new outfits made with real fur.

The palace made the announcement on Wednesday, adding that this doesn’t imply the Queen will get rid of her current fur pieces.

“The queen will continue to re-wear existing outfits in her wardrobe,” the palace said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.

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Angela Kelly, a former senior dresser with the royal household for 25 years, recently published her book, The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe.

In one section, she noted that the monarch stopped wearing real fur in 2019, CNN reported.

“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,” Kelly wrote.

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While the switch to faux fur wasn’t based on animal rights — the palace didn’t give an exact reasoning — many animal rights activists were happy with the decision.

In the past, CNN added, the Queen had been criticized for her fur looks by animal rights organizations like PETA.

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“Queen Elizabeth’s decision to ‘go faux’ is the perfect reflection of the mood of the British public, the vast majority of whom detest cruel fur and want nothing to do with it,” said Claire Bass, director of the Humane Society International/U.K. in a statement to the U.K.’s PA news agency.

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She added the switch sends “a powerful message that fur is firmly out of fashion.”

Ethical decisions in the Royal Family

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, also enjoys wearing fur, the Telegraph reported, as long as it comes from ethical sources.

“One of her favourite items, in which she has been seen multiple times, is a brown hat made from the pelts of alpacas which died of natural causes,” the site added.

The U.K. became the first country to ban fur farming based on ethical grounds.

The Queen’s news comes months after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they plan to only have two children “maximum” over concerns about climate change.

Harry shared the news in an interview with renowned primatologist Jane Goodall for the September issue of British Vogue.

He said becoming a father to baby Archie Harrison changed his point of view.

“I view it differently now, without question,” the Duke of Sussex said.

— With files from the Associated Press and Global News’ Meghan Collie