The Queen gives up control of major royal duty and hands it over to Prince Charles

The Queen has handed over control of her beloved Sandringham Estate (opens in new tab) to Prince Charles after controversy over the local wildlife. 

• Her Majesty the Queen is handing over the reigns of the Sandringham Estate to her eldest son and heir to the throne, Prince Charles (opens in new tab). 
• It means that the Prince of Wales will have to deal with the controversy surrounding the use of 'illegal' traps on the estate. 
• It follows Royal News (opens in new tab) that the Queen is supporting her cousin's fight against Covid-19 on Twitter (opens in new tab). 

A protected species of owl has reportedly been caught in a trap at the Sandringham Estate, which was managed by the Queen. The incident, which is being investigated by the police, has been discussed by Chris Ship and Lizzie Robinson on the Royal Rota podcast.

Podcast host, Mr Ship explained, "The Queen does run an estate in Sandringham, and that's a working estate, as Buckingham Palace (opens in new tab) tell us."

"On that working estate, they have traps to protect the game birds, the pheasants and the partridge."

"Those traps have caught an owl, which is a protected species."

"The traps killed it so the police have had to look into this whole issue."

What was found on the Sandringham Estate?

Ms Robinson went on to disclose, "There was a photograph of one of the owls that was caught in these traps, it's called a fenn trap."

"Fenn traps are illegal but they can be used for some specific types of species."

"They can be used for squirrels and rats and things, but they can't be used if they are going to kill stoats and owls because they are endangered."

It has been questioned why Sandringham Estate are not using more "humane" traps - like the DOC trap that has been approved by the New Zealand Conservation Department. 

"The National Anti Snaring Campaign found 10 of these fenn traps very recently in December still in use," Mr Ship later explained.

There are questions being raised, especially as the Prince of Wales is now set to take over the estate from his mother. Prince Charles has previously been vocal about how close conservation is to his heart and his fears for the future world (opens in new tab) his grandchildren will be growing up in. 

Royal expert, Ms Robinson, said, "there are some questions, especially because the Prince of Wales is taking over the running of Sandringham estate."

"We know how much he cares about the environment and organic matters."

According to Express.co.uk, the Palace have described the incident as an "unfortunate and isolated" event, adding that Sandringham does adhere to all the appropriate standards and regulations that are required of it.

Given Prince Charles' passion for conservation - even launching his own conscious fashion collection (opens in new tab) with Net-a-porter - we have no doubt the issue will be looked into by the Prince of Wales in the coming months. 

Whilst the Prince of Wales is thought to be continuing to "farm organically" at Sandringham, he is also understood to have given up the lease (opens in new tab) on his beloved Home Farm plot. He has farmed at Home Farm near his country home Highgrove in Gloucestershire for 35 years. 

Where is Sandringham House?

Located in Norfolk, Sandringham House stands within a 20,000 acre estate in the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty – so it’s no surprise Her Majesty enjoys spending time there.

It's located in the village of Sandringham, within the town of King's Lynn - just a three hour drive from London.

Last year, the stunning house played host to 'crisis talks' between the Queen, Price Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced they will 'step back' as senior members of the Royal Family. (opens in new tab)

The Queen traditionally spends Christmas at the Norfolk estate and remains there until February (opens in new tab) for a poignant reason. However, 2020 saw their plans change. For the first time in many years, the Queen and Prince Philip celebrated at Windsor Castle (opens in new tab).

With the country now in its third lockdown, it is understood that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have remained at their Berkshire home.