11 images Created 10 Apr 2023
Royal Swan Upping 1997
Royal Swan Upping, the Royal family’s oddest tradition.
Commissioned by the Times Educational Supplement in 1997 to photograph the Queen’s swans at Windsor in particular Christopher Perrins, Emeritus Professor in Zoology at Oxford University and ‘Her Majesty’s Warden of the Swans’ since 1993.
Swan Upping is the annual census of the swan population on various stretches of the river Thames. This historic ceremony dates from the twelfth century, when the Crown claimed ownership of all mute swans.
Traditional Thames rowing skiffs are used in a five-day journey upstream to Abingdon leaving from Eton Bridge, Windsor.
The job of the Swan Uppers is to count the number of young cygnets each year and to ensure that the swan population is maintained. Once captured, each swan is given a health check, weighed, ringed, recorded and released.
Following the Queen’s death, the practice now has a new owner King Charles III.
Commissioned by the Times Educational Supplement in 1997 to photograph the Queen’s swans at Windsor in particular Christopher Perrins, Emeritus Professor in Zoology at Oxford University and ‘Her Majesty’s Warden of the Swans’ since 1993.
Swan Upping is the annual census of the swan population on various stretches of the river Thames. This historic ceremony dates from the twelfth century, when the Crown claimed ownership of all mute swans.
Traditional Thames rowing skiffs are used in a five-day journey upstream to Abingdon leaving from Eton Bridge, Windsor.
The job of the Swan Uppers is to count the number of young cygnets each year and to ensure that the swan population is maintained. Once captured, each swan is given a health check, weighed, ringed, recorded and released.
Following the Queen’s death, the practice now has a new owner King Charles III.
