Royal Patron, Vice-Patrons and Honorary Fellows

His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden is passionate about the environment, technology, agriculture, trade and industry. His patronages include those of the Friends of the Swedish Museum of Natural History, the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The King visited the Linnean Society in 1975 as part of a state visit to the UK during which he accepted his election as Honorary Member.

His Imperial Majesty The Emperor Emeritus of Japan is recognised as an ichthyologist and is a leading authority on the goby fish. As of 2025 the Emperor Emeritus had discovered ten new species of the goby fish and Exyrias akihito is named in his honour. He was elected as a Foreign Member of the Linnean Society in 1980 and accepted Honorary Membership of the Society in 1986. In 1998 he received the Royal Society King Charles II Medal for outstanding contributions to furthering scientific research. As Emperor he took part in the 2007 celebrations marking the tercentenary of the birth of Carl Linnaeus. This included a visit to the Linnean Society where he delivered a keynote entitled ‘Linné and Taxonomy in Japan’ and was presented with the Society’s Tercentenary Medal.

Educated at the Gakushuin University in Tokyo, and subsequently a research student with the eminent embryologist Professor Takashi Fujii, HIH Prince Hitachi is a recognised cell biologist who has been involved in the comparative histology of human and lower vertebrate tumours for over 40 years and the author of numerous respected papers. Prince Hitachi accepted Honorary Membership of the Linnean Society in 1994. His early work involved the study of chemical carcinogenesis and then comparative oncology of lower animals (especially fish and frogs). The Cancer Research Institute (Tokyo) instituted the Prince Hitachi Prize for Comparative Oncology in 1995 in recognition of his work. Amongst his honorary positions, he is President of the Japanese Society for the Preservation of Birds and the Tokyo Zoological Park Society.

Baroness Young of Old Scone, a passionate defender of nature and natural history, accepted Honorary Membership of the Linnean Society in 2001. She has held numerous leadership roles, including Chief Executive of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (1991-1998), Chair of English Nature (1998-2000), Chief Executive of the Environment Agency (2000-2008), Chancellor of Cranfield University (2010-2020) and Chair of The Woodland Trust (2016-2024). Since joining the House of Lords in 1997, she has contributed to debates across a range of issues facing the natural world, amongst other topics. In 2017, she was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Sir David Attenborough is a broadcaster, writer, naturalist, and one of the most recognisable faces and voices on television. Beginning in the 1950s he has written, presented and narrated some of the iconic TV series on the state of our planet. A Fellow of the Linnean Society since 1985, he was elected Fellow honoris causa in 1998, received the Society’s Tercentenary medal marking the 300th anniversary of Carl Linnaeus’ birth in 2007 and was elevated to an Honorary Member of the Society in 2014. He has given his name to the Sir David Attenborough Award which is presented for outstanding fieldwork resulting from the LinnéSys: Systematics Research Fund grant programme.