Starting today, the weeklong schedule of "swan upping" takes place. Many swans make their nests in the upper Thames and are the property of the Crown and the Vintners' Companies of the City of London. Each summer watermen round up the cygnets and cut distinguishing marks on their bills. The Royal swanherd (the dyers and vintners are the only other owners of swans) travels from Southwark to Henley identifying and marking the swans that have been royal birds since 1186 and the only kind of bird that can be "estray". That means if they are found on common land or open water they belong to the crown as a prerogative right. Swan upping always takes place during the third week of July when cygnets are about a month old and are then deemed old enough to be handled by humans. Strict medieval laws were backed up with harsh punishments for those who did the "bird royal" harm. These included imprisonment for a year and a day for stealing a swan's egg. If anyone was caught killing one the swan was hung by the beak with its feet just touching the floor. Then the criminal had to pour out sufficient wheat to submerge its head until the beak disappeared from sight, costing a small fortune. If you were ever to stumble upon a dead whale at low tide, do not take it home with you under any circumstances because the Royal Prerogative 1324, states that the head of any dead whale or sturgeon found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the king (if there is one) and the tail belongs to the queen. This custom dates back to Edward II with the aim to "furnish the Queen's wardrobe with whalebone" used to make the royal corsets. In 1970 the Queen was persuaded to give up her right to captured whales. BACK inside the Royal household, during his reign in the early 18th century George I decreed that "the severest penalties will be suffered by any commoner who doth permit his animal to have carnal knowledge of a pet of the Royal house". Kept well away from the royal household's personal pets are the ceremonial pets or regimental mascots maintained for ceremonial purposes or as an emblem. Some are indicative of the recruiting area of a regiment such as the Derbyshire ram, Staffordshire bull terrier, Irish wolfhounds and Welsh goats. The Royal Family has in fact always been involved in passing outlandish laws. A stirrup, reputedly once owned by King William Rufus, is kept by the Court and if a dog is small enough to pass through the stirrup it is then allowed to run free in the New Forest.

In 1137 Edward III passed a law banning anyone including the Royal Family itself and men of the Church from wearing fur. A year earlier he had passed the Sumptuary Act that prevented anyone from having more than two courses at any meal. This same king persisted with his singular reforms, allowing only the Royal Family to wear gold cloth or purple silk and no one below the rank of knight could don velvet, satin, foreign wool, damask or sable.



And the consequences for anyone who put on a nightcap made of silk who earned less than £20 a year were either three months in jail or a fine of £10 per nightly offence.



In the 13th century Henry III signed a law decreeing the death penalty for anyone found killing, wounding or maiming fairies. Thanks to Henry VIII's son Edward VI anyone who was found breaking a boiled egg at the sharp end could be immediately sentenced to 24 hours in the village stocks.



Elizabeth I soon followed and it was she who passed a law banning any woman from leading a man into marriage through the use of false hair, make-up, false hips, highheeled shoes or other such devices and if convicted the woman was to be punished with the same penalties as witchcraft.



Under a decree of Charles II six ravens must be kept in the Tower of London at all times. According to legend if the ravens leave, both the Tower and the kingdom will collapse and so as insurance the raven master keeps chicks on site.



The prerogatives at the Tower demonstrate that with some privileges it works both ways. Every Royal Navy ship that moors alongside Tower Pier must deliver a barrel of rum to the constable of the Tower of London.



Sometimes even the Royals can make exceptions. Lord Kingsale is the only person who doesn't have to take his hat off to the Queen.



As the Premier Baron of Ireland his Lordship has the privilege, which was first granted by King John to De Courcy, Earl of Ulster, of wearing his hat in the royal presence. This was asserted by the late John, Baron Kingsale, at Dublin castle before his majesty King George IV on his visit to Ireland in August 1821.



He also has the privilege of having a cover laid for him at the royal table at coronations and on all other state occasions.



The office of sheriff was quite an imposition with many responsibilities and was avoided wherever possible. To stop them shirking their duty the monarch used to prick the parchment on which the list of sheriffs was written against each name to appoint them at the Privy Council meeting.



This meeting still occurs annually in February and the Queen still pricks the list with the very same silver bodkin as was used by the previous Queen Elizabeth instead of a pen.



Indeed the Royals still employ some peculiarly singular methods when it comes to rent. In the New Forest, pannage historically was a levy made for the privilege of allowing pigs to forage for acorns in the autumn where even now agisters do similar work. The Queen's Remembrancer gathers a symbolic debt of six horseshoes, 61 nails and two knives in rent for the Queen who, elsewhere on the Channel Island of Sark, receives an annual rent of £1.79 per annum.



In return for the tenure of Bury House Sir Charles Mill had to give George III a brace of milk-white greyhounds each time the king entered the New Forest and he always kept a litter of greyhounds in readiness.



In Scotland the Dukes of Athol hold their estate at Blair Athol on the condition that they present a white rose to the sovereign at every single visit.



Blair Athol on the condition that they present a white rose to the sovereign at every single visit.



But matters become even easier for the rent payers of the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust. For all the empty land, islands and rocks within the isles, Prince Charles is annually paid the sum of… one daffodil.



Adam Jacot de Boinod is the author of The Meaning Of Tingo And Other Extraordinary Words From Around The World, published by Penguin Books and the creator of the iPhone App Tingo, A Quiz On Interesting Words.