Guardian News and Media/London

In comments that sparked ‘Let them eat horse’ headlines, the Princess Royal called for a change in Britain’s attitude towards horsemeat.

Speaking at a conference of the World Horse Welfare charity, the princess, who is president of the organisation, said: “Our attitudes to the horsemeat trade and the value of horsemeat may have to change.”

Last month the charity said thousands of Britain’s horses and ponies were at risk of abandonment and neglect. The princess claimed that horse owners might take better care of their animals if they believed they could sell them for meat.

In Thursday’s speech in London she said: “If that’s true then, that they value their horses, they look after them well, because they’re in the horsemeat trade….should we be considering a real market for horsemeat and would that reduce the number of welfare cases if there was a real value in the horsemeat sector?

“I chuck that out for what it’s worth because I think it needs a debate,” she added.

If that was the aim, she succeeded in sparking a row.

The animal rights group Animal Aid said Anne’s remarks threatened to undermine Britain’s taboo over eating horse flesh.

Speaking to the Daily Express, its director Andrew Tyler said: “The production, trade and slaughter of hundreds of millions of other farm animals such as chickens and cows does not stop them being mistreated and abused.

“Horses, especially among her social set, are supposed to be cherished, yet she wants to treat them as disposable livestock. What next? The Queen’s corgis?”

The RSPCA, which boasts the Queen as a patron, diplomatically distanced itself from her daughter’s remarks. “The killing of horses for meat is an emotive subject as many see them as companion animals rather than a food source, a sentiment the RSPCA has sympathy with,” it said in a statement.

Anne’s speech comes amid continuing public alarm over the horsemeat scandal, which started when beef products were found to have been adulterated with horsemeat in Ireland.

Anne said the scandal was about improper labelling, not the use of horse products per se.

She said that in France a fillet of horsemeat was the most expensive meat in local butchers. “We’ve got to face that,” Anne said. “We’ve got to understand whether that value has also a part to play in how we reduce welfare cases.

“The value of the animal to every individual is slightly different, but if it has real financial value then you look a little bit further ahead in the way you look after your animals.”

The horsemeat scandal first began to unfold in January when it emerged that frozen burgers supplied to several supermarkets including Tesco contained horse DNA. Investigations found other beef products sold by retailers, including lasagne and spaghetti bolognese, were contaminated while meals in schools and hospitals had to be withdrawn after it was found they contained horsemeat.