Morrissey has accused members of the Royal Family of hypocrisy in an open letter addressing the issue of hunting.

In a post authored by Morrissey on fansite True To You, he attacks Prince William and Prince Harry specifically and criticises William for going on a hunting trip to Spain the day after launching United For Wildlife, a campaign to end the illegal hunting of animals on Sunday (February 9). There is no suggestion that William and Harry’s trip was illegal, but the timing of the excursion has been questioned.

Morrissey writes: “One day prior to giving a public plea on behalf of animal welfare (!), Prince William is to be found in Spain (with Prince Harry) shooting and killing as many deer and boar as they possibly can! Although William’s speech (no doubt written by his publicity aides at Clarence House) will concentrate on endangered species, William is too thickwit to realize that animals such as tigers and rhino are only driven to near extinction because people who are precisely like himself and his brother have shot them off the map – all in the name of sport and slaughter. Whenever you shoot an animal in the head the outcome is usually the same: death.”

He continued: “But the rationalists amongst us – who are never allowed to speak, are intelligent enough to realize that endangered species are dying out only because of people like William and Harry, and, for this we can only pray to God that their hunting guns backfire in their faces.” Read the full post here.