Activists turned up at Raffles Hotel in London today to raise awareness of Prince William's hypocrisy on conservation.
 
On Wednesday evening, William will take part in the Tusk Conservation Awards, staged at Raffles. But William has been accused of complicity in widespread destruction of British moorlands.
 
William and other royals routinely take part in grouse shooting, which requires the regular destruction of moorland and wildlife.
 
Peatland is drained and heather is burned off while chemicals are released into the atmosphere and into the soil.
 
Natural regeneration of trees, moss and other flora is suppressed to maintain land for shooting. Birds of prey and other predators are destroyed to protect grouse bred for the purposes of being shot.
 
Hundreds of thousands of grouse are shot each year.
 
Speaking for anti-monarchy campaign Republic, Graham Smith said today:
 
"William lectures Africans on conservation while obliterating the Scottish countryside so he can shoot birds for fun."
 
"Activists have been to Raffles Hotel in London to highlight this staggering hypocrisy."
 
"William has been called out by Africans before. He will blame poor people in Kenya for the loss of wildlife while it's the rich from the West who go on safari to shoot lions and elephants."
 
"William is desperate to be seen as an environmentalist, but his own carbon footprint, his wilful destruction of Britain's natural habitat show him to be nothing but a hypocrite."
 
"The Tusk Conservation Awards and Ninety One, their primary sponsor, need to ask why they are associating themselves with a repeat offender when it comes to environmental vandalism."


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