There will be no foie gras served in royal residences, a letter from Buckingham Palace to animal rights campaigners has confirmed.

King Charles is understood to have been a longstanding opponent of the food, made from the liver of a duck or goose, that campaigners say is cruel.

The King's household wrote to the Peta campaign group that foie gras was not bought or served in royal residences.

There have been protests about force-feeding used to produce foie gras.

King Charles, when he was Prince of Wales, had been an advocate of higher welfare standards in farming and for over a decade had stopped the use of foie gras in his own properties and had been instrumental in a wider ban across royal residences.