Never mind! You can keep that ancient shark tooth, Prince George: Malta reverses course
Never mind! The Mediterranean island country of Malta reversed course Tuesday and declared that young future king Prince George of Cambridge can keep that ancient shark tooth he got as a gift from British nature filmmaker David Attenborough.
After facing an awkward backlash at home and abroad, Malta culture minister Jose Herrera said he would no longer seek to reclaim the fossil that he called part of Malta's national patrimony on Monday.
The culture minister's office told The Times of Malta on Tuesday that the matter wouldn't be pursued. And Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela said “we should avoid creating unnecessary controversies” when asked about the flap.
Herrera's initial remarks about reclaiming George's shark tooth were indeed controversial and embarrassing. Critics included the son of murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, Matthew Galizia, who pointed out on Twitter that a “megalodon tooth costs $40 on eBay. Corruption has cost us billions of euros. I ask my government to prioritize and please get a grip on what’s important.”
The Maltese shark tooth flap began Saturday when unexpected pictures were released by Kensington Palace that showed George, 7, and his siblings, Princess Charlotte, 5, and Prince Louis, 2, looking intrigued and delighted as they examined the tooth from a carcharocles megalodon, an extinct species that lived more than 3 million years ago and was three times the size of modern great white sharks.
But according to The Times of Malta, Herrera was not so delighted. On Monday, he told The Times he will "get the ball rolling" to bring back the tooth to be exhibited in a Maltese museum.
New royal photos: Prince William, Duchess Kate share photos of their family with Sir David Attenborough
"There are some artifacts that are important to natural heritage which ended up abroad and deserve to be retrieved," he said.
“We rightly give a lot of attention to historical and artistic artifacts. However, it is not always the case with our natural history. I am determined to direct a change in this attitude.”
When Attenborough, 94, visited Kensington Palace last week to show the children's father, Prince William, a screening of his latest film, "David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet," in the palace garden, he gave George the ancient tooth.
Attenborough said he had picked it up on a family holiday on Malta in the late 1960s.
Prince George, a great-grandson to Queen Elizabeth II, is third in line to the British throne, and beloved by royal fans.
All of this, plus the pictures, was reported over the weekend in the United Kingdom and around the world. Malta is a former British colony that won its independence in 1964 and is now a member of the Commonwealth.
According to The Times, fossils such as the shark tooth could fall under the definition of cultural heritage as a “moveable or immovable object of geological importance” and thus "under the provisions of the Cultural Heritage Act 2002, their removal or excavation is (now) forbidden."
It is unclear whether Malta's hands-off-cultural artifacts law was in effect in the 1960s Kensington Palace has declined to comment on any of this.
Both Attenborough and the Duke of Cambridge, 38, are longtime allies in royal campaigns to fight wildlife poaching and the damaging effects of global climate change.
That was why he gave Will an in-person private screening of his new film, with the two of them seated in director's chairs in front of an outdoor screen.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Prince George's shark tooth: Malta says he can keep Attenborough gift
