Henrietta, Charles III's new hen. She is red-haired, bright-eyed, and has just moved into the gardens of Highgrove, the British sovereign's beloved residence in Gloucestershire. For her, as for twenty-nine of her friends, a new life is beginning.
The king insisted on choosing her first name himself. He opted for that of Charles I Stuart's wife: Henrietta in English, born Princess Henriette-Marie of France, daughter of Henry IV and younger sister of the future Louis XIII. Or perhaps also - and more likely - because the first syllable of the name is "hen".
Because Charles III's beautiful Henrietta is a farm hen, a layer, to whom the monarch has decided to offer, like twenty-nine of her peers, a peaceful retirement after a hard life of toil.
The operation was set up in partnership with the British Hen Welfare Trust, a charity that "works hard, with an incredible network of more than 1,400 volunteers and 48 rehabilitation sites across the United Kingdom, to save and rehome more than 60,000 laying hens each year." Now, in August 2024, the association was preparing to save its millionth hen from the slaughterhouse. A symbolic milestone.
To salute this great initiative and mark this round number, the sovereign, a fervent defender of organic farming and animal welfare, offered to welcome the lucky winner to his home, on his Highgrove estate. Because who doesn't dream of spending their retirement in a royal residence? And since there is no shortage of space on the estate, there are a total of thirty little chickens, young 18-month-old retirees, who have joined his Gloucestershire property this week.
Their journey from industrial life to Highgrove Gardens - a privileged space renamed for them "Hengrove" - was the subject of a video, shared on August 23, 2024 on the social networks of the royal family. We see the first steps of Henrietta and her comrades on the royal lands, where they are now free to peck at Her Majesty's lawns. And of course invited to provide her with a few more fresh eggs for breakfast.
Add comment
Comments