Based on a statute from 1324, The Queen technically still owns all the sturgeons, whales, porpoises, and dolphins within three miles of UK shores. In the 12th century, the English monarch was also granted ownership over all the mute swans in England (swans were a good source of food, and common people had to turn to Turkeys for their dinners instead).
In the 15th century, the crown gave ownership rights in the swans to others, including the Vintners' and Dyers' Companies, both of whom still share ownership of the swans in the Thames with the Seigneur of the Swans - the Queen herself. There is still an annual practice of Swan Upping, where mute swans on the River Thames are rounded up, caught, marked, and then released to keep a census of the swan population and to establish ownership rights over the cygnets.The morals of the story are three-fold:
- Being the Queen of England carries with it a lot of added duties;
- the British are very traditional; and
- the Queen can have all the sturgeons, dolphins, porpoises, whales, and swans she wants, I just want a pet duck.
