It’s a palace fit for royalty – and now 31 hens, including one the King has named Henrietta.
The lucky flock was adopted by Charles on August 17, and the birds have since made themselves at home in Highgrove Gardens, the grounds of the King and Queen’s country home in Gloucestershire.
Henrietta, the millionth bird to be rehomed by the British Hen Welfare Trust (BHWT), travelled there in a carrier by award-winning British fashion designer Lulu Guinness, the charity said.
It rescues commercial laying hens and has rehomed them in schools, prisons and back gardens across the country, ‘inspiring the public to see hens as much-loved pets’.
According to the BHWT, hens are typically replaced with younger birds once they reach 18 months old and are producing fewer eggs.
Older animals are slaughtered.
Founder Jane Howorth said: ‘To think so many hens have had a happy retirement gives me a great deal of pleasure, as I’m sure it has for all the British supporters who have taken these deserving little creatures into their homes and hearts.’