Members of the royal family have earned more than £1 billion from property and land holdings, which, however, the British media (in this case, The Guardian) are called “controversial”.

King Charles and his mother, Queen Elizabeth, who died last year, received payments totaling more than £1bn from land and property development, the profits from which many say should go not to the royal family, but to the British Treasury .

Dukedoms of Lancaster and Cornwall

The Guardian pays special attention to the investigation Dukedoms of Lancaster and Cornwall (Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall) who manage colossal property/land/property/investment portfolios across England.

The duchies operate as professional real estate empires, managing farmland, hotels, medieval castles, offices, shops and some of London’s finest luxury properties. They also have significant investment portfolios, but they do not pay corporate tax or capital gains tax.

The editors of The Guardian, citing evidence from the Duchy held in the Parliamentary and State Archives, argue that The income of Queen Elizabeth and her eldest son Charles, as Duke of Cornwall, has increased 16 times over the past seven decades..

It is noted that, in addition to this “private” income, the royal family also receives an annual government subsidy.: i.e. money from the state to cover its expenses, which has also risen sharply in recent years and now costs the English taxpayers about £86 million a year.

Profits from the Duchy of Lancaster, which includes 18,481 hectares of farmland, mostly in the north of England and the Midlands, automatically go to whoever sits on the throne. The cost of this land is estimated at 652 million pounds.

On the other hand, the Duchy of Cornwall, which governs 52,450 hectares of land, mostly in the southwest of England, is worth over £1bn. The profit from its management automatically goes to… the male heir to the throne.

When Charles, 74, became king last year, the Duchy of Cornwall automatically passed to his son. Prince William, who is now on paper a billionaire and one of the largest landowners in England. William can expect from this duchy an annual reward of the order £20 million.

The regime that wants money from these duchies to reach the royal family goes back to when England was still divided into medieval fiefdoms.

In the past, many deputies have repeatedly called for the transfer of the profits of the duchies to the treasury.

The palace, for its part, maintains that the income from the ducats ends up being spent primarily on the official duties of the royal family and on charitable causes. The Guardian’s editors, however, argue that the royal family has never disclosed details of how the money, which is described as “private financial arrangements,” is being spent.

Source: Guardian