The iconic black bearskin hats famously worn by Buckingham Palace guards are causing a kerfuffle, with animal rights activists demanding a switch to faux fur.

An animal rights group has criticised the British government for an “indefensible” rise in bearskin cap orders for royal guards, despite a pledge to clamp down on fur imports.

Orders for the tall fur caps worn by the King’s Guards outside Buckingham Palace and St James’s Palace have risen more than fourfold since the Labour Party took power, according to data obtained by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) under freedom of information laws, rising from 22 caps in 2024 to 96 in 2025.

The black caps, which were introduced following the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 to make soldiers appear tall and threatening, cost the Ministry of Defence more than £225,000 ($420,332) in 2025, a nearly 8 per cent increase in the price per cap from 2024.

Animal rights activists say there’s no excuse to continue using bear fur. Photo: Wikipedia

The Labour Party previously committed to ban fur imports to Britain in 2018, while the Starmer government pledged to deliver “the most ambitious animal welfare program in a generation” in a policy paper published in 2025.

Peta has called on Defence Minister Luke Pollard to switch to faux fur caps.

“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,” Peta’s Kate Werner said.

“With modern, high-quality faux fur readily available, there is no excuse to continue using bear fur.”

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.

They are made of bearskin sourced from Canada, where hunters shoot bears with high-powered crossbows, an illegal form of hunting in Britain.

The use of bear fur creates a market for the pelts and incentivises hunters. Photo: Wikipedia

“Many bears are shot several times, and some escape only to die slowly from blood loss, gangrene, starvation, or dehydration,” Peta said.

“The continued use of bear fur for the caps creates a market for the pelts and incentivises hunters to kill the bears.”

A MoD spokesperson said the department bought “the minimum number of bearskin caps to replace those which have seen extensive use over extended years”.

-AAP