The 74-year-old royal has long condemned the French delicacy as unethical and even ordered chefs at his personal residence not to use it while he was Prince of Wales.

King Charles has finally banned foie gras from being served at all royal residences due to animal welfare concerns.

According to insiders, the King removed the food from his royal residences as Prince of Wales as far back as 2008, but the policy is now extended to Balmoral, Sandringham, Windsor Castle, Hillsborough Castle, and Buckingham Palace.

Foie gras is a controversial pâté made from the liver of a duck or goose that animal rights campaigners describe as ‘torture in a tin’.

The divisive luxury dish is made by force feeding ducks and geese until their livers swell up to 10 times their natural size before the animals are slaughtered. According to vegan charity PETA’s harrowing footage, these birds are often left with holes in their throats from overfeeding and many die prematurely due to ruptured organs.

Currently, the UK has banned the production of foie gras, but import and sale of the gourmet dish is still allowed.

While the country had proposed to prohibit its importation post Brexit, these plans are now expected to be shelved.

‘Leave foie gras off the menu’

PETA praised the monarch’s decision to ditch the cruelly obtained delicacy. Vice president Elisa Allen said: “Follow the King’s lead and leave foie gras off the menu this Christmas and beyond. Video footage of birds being painfully force-fed is enough to make anyone lose their lunch.”

As a token of gratitude, the group also sent the king a hamper of decadent faux gras made by renowned vegan chef Alexis Gauthier.

King Charles has long been regarded as a strong advocate for the planet. He has been vocal about the climate crisis since 1970. On a personal level, ‘the Climate King’ aims to follow a mainly plant-based diet in order to reduce his carbon footprint.

“For years I haven’t eaten meat and fish two days a week and I don’t eat dairy products one day a week,” he told the BBC in 2021.

While the royal has certainly made a name for himself as an environmentalist, PETA is pushing for the king to swap ermine robes made from stoats for his coronation in May with fake fur.

The charity has also been campaigning for faux fur to replace the distinctive bearskin hats worn by the king’s guard.

• Read: 90% of Brits acknowledge farmed animals experience similar emotions to cats and dogs,

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