Many of Europe’s royals have dogs as pets. What has been quite unknown to most people, however, is that the Swedish King and the Danish Queen, also owns several elephan`s. Now one of the royal elephants has died. The elephant was the son of two elephants that were once given as a gift by another monarch.
The baby elephant, named Prince, died this week after a rapid illness. Prince, who wasn’t yet two years old, is said to have started to feel noticeably worse at the start of December Since then, the team at Kolmården Zoo in Sweden, where the elephant lived, worked day and night to save the royal elephant. In the end, Prince died on December 7th 2021, to the great sorrow of the king and the zoo staff.
Prince is the son of another elephant owned by King Carl Gustaf, named Bua and the elephant Tonsak who is owned by Queen Margrethe of Denmark. Both of the elephants lives in Kolmården zoo in Sweden. The two elephants were both gifts from King Bhumibol of Thailand to the King of Sweden and the Queen of Denmark. As the elephant was a descendant of both the Danish queen and the Swedish king’s elephant, Prince was actually owned by both, but it was clarified shortly after the elephant’s birth that the Swedish king would be the official owner and that the elephant would live in Sweden.
When the elephant Prince was born in March 2020, the Swedish king was more than happy. The King then wrote in a greeting to the zoo that was very happy that the royal elephant had been born and that he looked forward to taking his family to visit the new elephant.
It is unclear what caused Prince’s death. The zoo is awaiting test results and an investigation from the Swedish Veterinary Institute. Kolmården Zoo`s staff is grateful for the short but nice time they had with little Prince. It is written in a press release: “Ever since his birth, Prince has been loved. He has given such joy, not only to us who work at Kolmården but to all our guests. It is a great sorrow for the elephant herd, all the caretakers who have taken care of him since birth and for all of us who have experienced his wonderful personality at Kolmården. Our playful elephant boy has left us”.
