Three female activists from the Animal Rising group were charged on Monday for stealing three lambs from King Charles III’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk in May, local police said.
"Three women have been charged with multiple thefts and animal welfare offences,” Norfolk Police said in a statement. The charges were: stealing three lambs; causing unnecessary suffering to protected animals; and failing to record movement of an animal.
The three activists, aged between 23 and 34, have been placed on bail and will appear in court on 28 September.
On 24 May, the group Animal Rising had claimed to be behind the robbery, in a video showing the three women walking through a field. It said the aim of the action was to denounce the farming of animals for food.
The Sandringham estate, several thousand acres of woodland, crops and gardens, has belonged to the royal family for several generations.
Charles III inherited it on the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
