In 1324, during the reign of King Edward II, the English Parliament enacted the statute Prerogativa Regis (The King's Prerogative). Among its various codifications of royal privileges, Section 13 established that the King shall have wreck of the sea throughout the realm, including whales and sturgeons taken in the sea or elsewhere within the realm. Known collectively as Royal Fish, this designation officially includes whales, sturgeons, porpoises, and dolphins caught within British territorial waters—defined today as within 12 nautical miles of the coast or washed ashore.
Historically, this law served dual purposes: providing revenue to the Crown through valuable items like whale oil and baleen, and reinforcing sovereign control over coastal resources. According to legal lore documented by jurist William Blackstone, a unique gendered distinction existed: the head of a stranded whale belonged to the King, while the tail was assigned to the Queen Consort, supposedly to furnish her wardrobe with whalebone for corsets. Remarkably, this medieval statute remains active law in the United Kingdom today.
While modern international conservation treaties and domestic wildlife protection acts prevent the commercial exploitation of these animals, technically, anyone who catches a sturgeon or finds a stranded whale in British waters must still offer it to the reigning Sovereign through the Receiver of Wreck before disposing of it.