King and William’s private estates ‘raking in millions from cash-strapped public services’

King Charles and Prince William are secretly raking successful millions of pounds from cash-strapped government departments, schools, the equipped forces and adjacent the NHS, a caller probe claims.

The latest Channel 4 Dispatches enquiry asserts that portion the monarch and heir to the throne’s respective backstage estates – the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, which make £50 cardinal a twelvemonth – are not funded by the taxpayer, each receives ‘extensive’ amounts of wealth from nationalist services.

Documents made nationalist for the archetypal clip allegedly amusement however the Duchy of Lancaster is banking £11.4 cardinal arsenic portion of a woody with Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust to location its caller fleet of electrical ambulances.

It besides claims the Duchy of Cornwall has signed a £37 cardinal woody to lease the presently inactive Dartmoor Prison to the Ministry of Justice, charged the navy much than £1 cardinal to physique and usage jetties and moor warships, and stands to gain astir £600,000 from rental agreements with authorities schools implicit the beingness of six antithetic leases.

Author and royal onshore adept Guy Shrubsole tells the documentary: ‘[It] strikes maine arsenic precise odd, that ultimately, we, the taxpayer, are paying for the NHS to person a lease oregon a warehouse oregon immoderate from the Duchy of Lancaster.

‘I deliberation this asks rather searching questions astir rather however they are making their profits. Why are determination not peppercorn rents oregon societal rents being charged for the NHS, for example?’

The King, The Prince & Their Secret Millions: Dispatches airs contiguous astatine 8.10pm connected Channel 4.

King and Prince of Wales ‘take wealth from charities they champion’

The probe accuses the King and his heir of making wealth from the bully causes they promote.

It alleges the Duchy of Cornwall has pocketed astatine slightest £22 cardinal since 2005 from a stock of the rents paid connected Camelford House, which sits connected the banks of the Thames.

The gathering is nicknamed ‘charity towers’ owed to the fig it houses.

But 2 crab charities boasting the King arsenic a semipermanent patron – Marie Curie and Macmillan – person some precocious downsized, with the second saying it wanted to escaped up funds.

Charles became patron of St John’s Ambulance past year, which the doc claims antecedently paid the Duchy of Cornwall astir £60,000 for usage of its land.

The King is besides patron of the RNLI and William and Kate are supporters – but the Duchy of Cornwall inactive charges it tiny amounts to usage slipways successful assorted corners of the South West.

Baroness Margaret Hodge, a erstwhile Labour MP and seat of the nationalist accounts committee, told the programme: ‘In the tribunal of nationalist opinion, you ever person to beryllium cleaner than clean.

‘And if determination is simply a question people implicit a foundation that has a royal patronage and truthful gains other income, past that income is past utilized wage rent backmost to the royals, it conscionable doesn’t consciousness rather right.’

Royal situation ‘hypocrites’

Both the King and Prince William person warned astir our work to support the environment.

Charles has said: ‘Unless we rapidly repair and reconstruct nature’s unsocial system based connected harmony and balance, which is our eventual sustainer, our ain system and survivability volition beryllium imperilled.’

And William has added: ‘The shared goals for our procreation are clear, unneurotic we indispensable support and reconstruct nature, cleanable our air, revive our oceans, physique a discarded escaped satellite and hole our climate.’

But Dispatches says it has unearthed investments by their estates which endanger the aforesaid earthy satellite they importune we desperately request to protect.

Collectively, the Duchies ain thousands of mineral rights – and person cashed successful by striking deals with arguable mining companies for sites crossed the country.

In Hingston Down, an country of outstanding earthy beauty, the Duchy of Cornwall leases onshore to 1 of the biggest polluters successful Europe.

Royals’ tenants ‘left shivering successful acold and mouldy homes’

Working with the Mirror newspaper, the programme recovered that scores of properties being rented retired by some Duchies failed to comply with minimum vigor businesslike requirements for landlords – leaving immoderate tenants shivering successful homes blighted by achromatic mould and struggling with substance poverty.

It recovered 14% of homes leased by the Duchy of Cornwall and 13% by the Duchy of Lancaster person an vigor show standing of F oregon G.

Since 2020, it has been against the instrumentality for landlords to rent retired properties that are rated beneath an E nether the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards regulations.

Many failing properties emit immense amounts of carbon, which again impacts the environment.

One tenant said: ‘It gets miserably acold successful winter. I tin lone vigor 2 rooms successful my home. The Duchy does not understand.’

A 2nd added: ‘The location is cold, and it is simply a conflict but determination is obscurity other to unrecorded here. They are not bully landlords. When the upwind blows the curtains commencement swinging. There’s nary heating upstairs astatine all.’

‘Time for change’

Mr Shrubsole said: ‘I deliberation the airy you’re shedding connected the goings connected wrong the Duchies of Cornwall oregon Lancaster is important to generating much nationalist debate.

‘I deliberation it’s past clip for the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster to yet beryllium dissolved and folded into the Crown Estate. They person to springiness their profits to the Exchequer. And past immoderate of that comes backmost to us, the taxpayer.

‘This isn’t astir whether you deliberation determination should beryllium a monarch oregon not. It’s simply astir bully management.’

Baroness Hodge said: ‘This would beryllium a superb clip for the monarch to say, I’m going to beryllium open, and I privation to beryllium treated arsenic reasonably arsenic anybody.

‘It’s nationalist money, it’s taxpayer’s wealth – your money, it’s my money, it’s the viewers’ money.’

A spokesperson for the Duchy of Lancaster said: ‘The Duchy of Lancaster operates arsenic a commercialized company, managing a wide scope of onshore and spot assets crossed England and Wales.

‘It complies with each applicable UK authorities and regulatory standards applicable to its scope of concern activities.

‘The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is liable to the Sovereign for the medication of the Duchy. However, he/she delegates definite functions, peculiarly those regarding plus management, to the Duchy Council.

‘While His Majesty The King takes a adjacent involvement successful the enactment of the Duchy, the day-to-day absorption of the portfolio is the work of the Council and enforcement team.

‘The Duchy has made a fig of cardinal biology improvements successful caller years, delivering a important summation successful the fig of A+, A and B EPC ratings awarded to our properties arsenic a effect of refurbishment oregon restoration works.

‘Currently, implicit 87% of each Duchy fto properties are rated E oregon above. The remainder are either awaiting scheduled betterment works oregon are exempted nether UK legislation.

‘The fiscal and biology show of the Duchy is disclosed each twelvemonth successful our published Report and Accounts which are independently audited and freely disposable connected the Duchy of Lancaster website.

‘His Majesty The King voluntarily pays taxation connected each income received from the Duchy, arsenic did the precocious Queen Elizabeth II.’

A Duchy of Cornwall spokesperson said: ‘The Duchy of Cornwall is simply a backstage property with a commercialized imperative which we execute alongside our committedness to restoring the earthy situation and generating affirmative societal interaction for our communities.

‘Prince William became Duke of Cornwall successful September 2022 and since past has committed to an expansive translation of the Duchy.

‘This includes a important concern to marque the property nett zero by the extremity of 2032, arsenic good arsenic establishing targeted intelligence wellness enactment for our tenants and moving with section partners to assistance tackle homelessness successful Cornwall.’

The spokesperson added: ‘The Duchy is engaging with the captious minerals manufacture successful Cornwall to respond to the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy.

‘We person granted a fig of three-year exploration licences, and each licensees indispensable guarantee that their activities are successful strict accordance with statutory requirements and conscionable precocious biology standards.’

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