Peta attacks Danish royal family for wearing seal fur in commemorative stamp

Animal rights group accuses royal couple of being 'callous and out of touch'

Crown Prince Frederik and his wife Mary posed for the commemorate stamp to celebrate their wedding anniversary (Getty Images)

The Danish royal family has been accused of making the country look “callous and out of touch” for posing in animal furs on a commemorative stamp.

Crown Prince Frederik, his wife Princess Mary and their four children were all photographed in seal fur-lined boots for a new stamp to commemorate the couple’s wedding anniversary.

In Denmark, couples traditionally mark 12-and-a-half years of marriage – known as their copper anniversary.

The family were photographed in seal fur from Greenland where it is traditionally used for clothing.

But animal rights group Peta condemned their choice of footwear saying: “It’s hard to think of a less appropriate way to commemorate in the skins of animals whose families were slaughtered to make them."

The charity’s European spokeswoman, Sascha Camilli, told The Local: “Times have changed, and unless Danes wish to be viewed as callous and out of touch, they should start creating new traditions that celebrate compassion and replace those tired, cruelly produced furs with new eco-friendly and humane fabrics.”

The Danish Royal Family has not commented on the controversy but this is not the first they have provoked the outrage of the outspoken animal rights group.

During a trip to Greenland in September, Princess Mary, who is originally from Australia, angered her home country’s branch of Peta by wearing a designer coat lined with seal fur.

The group told the Daily Mail at the time: “Despite being made aware of all the cruelties of the fur industry, it still hasn't clicked for Princess Mary that wearing animals makes her look cold-hearted and totally out of touch.

“The majority of Australian people shun fur, and it's time that the princess gave animals a fair go by going fur-free.”

In 2013, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) upheld a ban on Canadian and Norwegian seal fur imports by the EU.

The WTO ruled that the ban addressed “public moral concerns” about the production and sale of the fur which Peta claims involved the clubbing to death of three-month old seals.