Racing pigeons will be released from the Queen’s lofts in Sandringham and at Windsor on the day of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral.
The Royal Pigeon Racing Association (RPA) is aiming to have ten pigeons — one for each decade of the duke’s life — released in 65 cities and towns across the UK as a winged tribute to the duke, a fan of the sport, at midday on Saturday.
The royal family’s association with racing pigeons began in 1886 when King Leopold II of Belgium gifted them breeding stock for the Sandringham estate.
The Queen carried on the tradition and has 170 birds in her royal loft in the village of Wolferton, on her Norfolk estate.
Richard Chambers, development officer for the RPA, who will be releasing his own birds at the National Memorial Arboretum near Lichfield, Staffordshire, said that the royal loft manager had told him this week how interested Prince Philip had been in the birds.
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“The Queen has always paid an interest and visited the lofts and the duke himself paid particular interest, to the point that when it was time for the royal party to move on during a visit he would spend extra time asking questions,” Chambers said.
“We think that came with his affinity for the natural world, as well as the pigeons having a link to the Second World War, which he served in.”
Catherine Cooper, from Peasedown St John, Somerset, will be releasing ten of her own birds near Bath Abbey, three hours before his funeral takes place.
“Pigeons and doves have since biblical times been seen as a symbol of peace and hope,” she said. “It is a fitting way for members of the Royal Pigeon Racing Association to show their respect and gratitude to His Royal Highness.”
Chambers said that current restrictions in place because of bird flu meant that fanciers were not allowed to race their pigeons but they were allowed to release them for training flights.
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“We have had around 28 cities sign up to release pigeons in the first 48 hours after we put the call out and we hope to get many more before the funeral,” he said.
The Queen regularly enters her pigeons in races. In 1990 one of her birds won a section of the prestigious Pau International Race, in which birds are released from the city in the French Pyrenees. That bird was subsequently named Sandringham Lightning.
One of her birds had to be rescued in 2016 by the Scottish SPCA after it was found lost in East Lothian near Edinburgh.
Last year eight royal racing pigeons died in quarantine after they were sent to South Africa to compete in the Million Dollar Pigeon Race, deemed by pigeon fanciers to be “the Olympics of pigeon racing”.
Campaigners say that birds die during long flights in stifling heat and others are killed during quarantine for the event, when disease becomes rife.
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The Queen has been sending birds to the event for about 20 years. The organisers waive the £900 per bird entry fee and she donates any winnings to charity.
Pigeon racing is a simple sport. The birds are trained through practice to return to their home loft when released from a distance.
The traditional way to time a race is for a ring to be attached to each pigeon’s leg. The birds are then let go by a starter who records the time of release. As they enter their home lofts, the trainer removes the ring and puts it in a timing device which indicates the time of arrival. An average speed is measured and the fastest pigeon is the winner.
Electronic chips have been used more recently, meaning that the fancier does not have to be at the loft to record the winner.
