Being born into royalty seems like a dream: luxurious palaces, worldwide travel, and endless perks. But one tradition in the royal family is a grim rite of passage that no one would envy. Known as the “blooding ritual,” it’s a shocking and macabre practice where young royals are introduced to the harsh realities of killing. The ceremony takes place in the Scottish highlands, where the child is expected to execute a deer. Once the deer is killed, a royal gamekeeper slices open its belly, and the child’s face is pressed into the fresh, steaming wound. Not exactly the “fun lessons” one might imagine.
Kate Middleton steps in to protect her Children
Prince George is now at an age where he could undergo this grisly initiation, but Kate Middleton has firmly intervened. According to royal expert Tom Quinn’s upcoming book Yes, Ma’am – The Secret Life of Royal Servants, Kate has demanded her children be spared from this barbaric ritual. The book reveals that Kate insisted there would be no blooding for her children, breaking from centuries of royal tradition.
While Kate is standing her ground, this isn’t the first time the ceremony has been performed within the family. Both Prince William and Prince Harry were blooded as children, as was King Charles by Prince Philip. In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry shared his unsettling experience, describing how his head was shoved into the carcass of a deer, suffocating him in blood and guts. Harry’s haunting recollection reveals the brutal reality behind the ritual: “My nose and mouth were full of blood, guts, and a deep, upsetting warmth,” he wrote.
The Royals are typically secretive about this practice, and it’s clear they prefer to keep it hidden from the public. However, with modern sensibilities in play, both William and Kate have distanced themselves from the tradition. William, in particular, has acknowledged that public opinion is shifting against “blood sports,” which is the sanitized term used to describe activities like hunting and blooding.
While Kate’s decision to protect her children from this tradition seems progressive, it raises questions about the psychological and cultural consequences of not participating in a ritual that has been embedded in royal life for centuries. Will the next generation of royals find other ways to assert their power, perhaps in more troubling ways? Only time will tell, but for now, we can rest assured that Prince George and his siblings won’t have to face this bizarre rite of passage.