Interviewed in the March issue of industry publication, Gun Trade News, Rebecca Schönfelder, manager of Europe’s biggest shooting show, IWA, mentioned that in the past at least one crowned head of Europe had visited the event. This led her to speculate on the possibility that at some stage in the future, a member of our own Royal Family might also grace the walkways of the exhibition halls in Nuremberg, where the event takes place. Ah, Rebecca, such innocence. Anyone familiar with the way life is lived here now, requires only the merest fragment of imagination to visualise the veritable shit storm that would be unleashed were, say Wills or Harry, to rock up at an event that has at its heart shooting generally and the shooting of wild things in particular. Even in the very act of writing this one can almost smell the moist anticipation leeching from the bedwetters, pretend soldiers, angry people and assorted illiterates who patrol the Internet, unleashing a torrent of abuse accompanied by the inevitable demands for an apology. And not just them. The queue of virtue signallers keen to climb aboard the Breakfast TV sofa and berate the royals for such a folly would stretch for miles. Prince Harry especially would not have to travel far to get it in the ear, given that his Mrs has a clear penchant for anything touchy-feely. The best bet would have been the Duke of Edinburgh, but as he has given up shooting game in favour of mowing down road users, it looks unlikely that Ms. Schönfelder will see her wish granted any time soon.
Pic: IWA OutdoorClassics