Animal rights campaigners have condemned the government for an "indefensible" surge in orders for bearskin caps worn by royal guards, directly contradicting earlier pledges to restrict fur imports. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) revealed that orders for the distinctive tall fur caps, donned by the King’s Guards stationed outside Buckingham Palace and St James’s Palace, have escalated more than fourfold since the Labour party assumed power.
Data secured by Peta through freedom of information requests shows a significant increase from 22 caps in 2024 to 96 for 2025. This rise comes with a substantial cost to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), which spent over £225,000 on the caps in 2025. The price per cap also saw a nearly 8 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
These iconic black caps, originally introduced after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 to give soldiers a more imposing presence, now highlight a contentious animal welfare issue. The Labour party had committed to a ban on fur imports to the UK in 2018, while the government, in a 2025 policy paper from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), promised "the most ambitious animal welfare programme in a generation."
Peta is now urging defence minister Luke Pollard to instruct the MoD’s capmakers to transition to sourcing and implementing faux fur alternatives for the ceremonial headwear.
Kate Werner, Peta’s senior campaigns manager, said: “Each cap costs a bear their life – making it indefensible that a Government claiming to be the ‘party of animal welfare’ continues to use taxpayer money on these purely ornamental caps.
“With modern, high-quality faux fur readily available, there is no excuse to continue using bear fur. The MoD must act and develop a humane faux fur cap.”
The black caps are worn by foot soldiers in the Grenadier Guards, the Coldstream Guards, the Scots Guards, the Irish Guards and the Welsh Guards.
According to Peta, they are made of bearskin sourced from Canada, where hunters shoot bears with high-powered crossbows, which is an illegal form of hunting in the UK.
“Many bears are shot several times, and some escape only to die slowly from blood loss, gangrene, starvation, or dehydration,” the organisation said.
“Hunters in Canada often bait the bears with buckets of sweet food before shooting them.
“The continued use of bear fur for the caps creates a market for the pelts and incentivises hunters to kill the bears.”
An MoD spokesperson said: “We procure the minimum number of bearskin caps to replace those which have seen extensive use over extended years.”
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