Have you ever heard that the Queen owns all the swans in England?
I hadn’t until I went looking for odd facts this morning. This one seemed really bizarre. In fact, I had a hard time believing it, so I researched further. It turns out the Queen doesn’t own all the swans, just the unmarked mute swans in open water in the UK. I have no idea how many swans that is, but I bet it’s a lot.
Mute swans are not actually mute, they re just quieter than other swans. They are white with orange bills. Apparently, the monarch can hunt these swans to eat them, but nobody does that anymore.
Nowadays, the only swans the Queen concerns herself with are the ones she owns on the Thames. The Warden of Swans and the Marker of the Swans (before 1993, these two positions were held by the Keeper of the Queen’s Swans) annually count, examine, and release the Queen’s swans on the Thames. This event is called the swan-upping ceremony.
The Worshipful Companies of Vintners and Dyers also own swans on the Thames (I assume these are marked swans.) They have a swan-upping ceremony at the same time as the Queen.
My goal was to learn something new today and share it with you. I hope I succeeded.