Overview

• The annual Boxing Day shoot at Sandringham estate could be canceled after on-site pheasant numbers fell sharply this year.
• King Charles, 76, was described as “livid” over the crisis and has refused calls to import birds from external breeders.
• A recent staff shake-up led to the departure of a long-serving gamekeeper whose management is blamed for the population decline.
• A committed environmentalist undergoing weekly cancer treatments, the King faces pressure to honor both conservation principles and royal tradition.
• Sandringham supports over 200 jobs in gamekeeping and farming, making the shoot’s fate a critical issue for local rural employment.