Trivia

Sea otters can live their entire lives without leaving the water. They have the thickest fur of any mammal, as much as 1,000,000 hairs per square inch, and it is considered one of the most valuable types of fur in the world. Due to extensive hunting for their fur between 1741 and 1911, they are classified as an endangered species, over 1 million sea otters having been killed during the maritime fur trade. Protection and conservation laws saw the numbers rebound during the 20th century. Currently, the most significant threat to sea otters are oil spills.

Otters love eating sea urchins and are one of the few mammals to use tools, namely rocks to crush sea urchin shells.

Sea otters frequently hold hands when sleeping so that they won’t drift away from each other.

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Circumcision for members of the royal family in England dates back to King George I, who introduced the custom. Queen Victoria traced the British royal family’s tree back to ancient Israel’s King David, and insisted that her sons be circumcised along the lines of Jewish tradition, which calls for foreskin to be snipped on the eighth day after birth. Edward VII, the Duke of Windsor and Prince Charles were all snipped. Princess Diana said no for her sons and put an end to it. It is not known whether William has reinstated, or will reinstate, the tradition.

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Three of Prince Philip’s four sisters – Margarita, Cecile and Sophie – married German aristocrats who became leading figures in the Nazi party.

Prince Philip, circled, pictured with relatives wearing Nazi uniforms at his sister Cecile's funeral in Germany in 1937. She had been killed in an air crash. Note the Nazi salutes of the crowd.

Prince Philip’s youngest sister Sophie – elegantly dressed with a fur hanging on the back of her chair – sitting opposite Hitler at the wedding of Luftwaffe commander Hermann Goering (with gold braid) and his bride Emmy, 1935.