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| Volume 52 Number 21, September 17, 2022 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBCENTRE | SUBSCRIBE |
It is well documented how the Royal Family has accumulated vast wealth, not to mention its royal possessions and its retinues. Its role in charities such as the Prince's Trust has come into question, and its discretion to influence legislation to protect and favour personal interests has come under so much scrutiny that it is said that King Charles has had to undertake to scale back his "interference in politics". It was reported in the Guardian last year that the Queen and Prince Charles over the course of Queen's reign had vetted more than 1,000 laws ranging from Brexit trade deals to inheritance and land policy via a secretive procedure known as Queen's Consent. The huge number of laws subject to royal vetting cover matters ranging from justice, social security, pensions, race relations and food policy. They included draft laws that affected the Queen's personal property such as her private estates in Balmoral and Sandringham. In addition, the Sovereign has immunity from more than 160 laws.
In 2022, Queen Elizabeth II was estimated to be personally worth £365 million. According to the Sunday Times Rich List, this figure is up £15 million from her 2020 earnings and includes the Sovereign Grant and her personal income. As for the monarchy as a whole, Forbes magazine puts their total net worth as £72.5 billion. The Sovereign gets their money from three sources: the annual Sovereign Grant payment, the Privy Purse and their personal wealth and inheritance. The first is a figure the Sovereign receives annually from the government, whilst the second two sources are independent wealth. The "Privy Purse" is the private income the Sovereign receives from the Duchy of Lancaster. This is essentially a portfolio of land, property and other assets that have been held in trust for the Sovereign since 1399.
"At the end of March 2021, the Duchy of Lancaster had £577.3m of net assets under its control, delivering net surplus of £22.3m," says a statement on the Duchy of Lancaster website. This figure of £22.3 million is therefore what the Queen received for the year ending March 2021. A government picked chancellor takes care of the Duchy of Lancaster estate. The Queen owned the Balmoral and Sandringham Estates, which were both inherited from her father, George VI. Then there's the £10 million estate of Prince Philip. This was left to the Queen following his death in April last year. The Queen Mother additionally left her daughter an estimated £70m fortune when she died in 2002.
In May this year, when opening Parliament on behalf of Queen Elizabeth, there was the absurd and despicable spectacle of billionaire Charles sitting on a golden throne, introducing the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill by saying: "My Government's priority is to grow and strengthen the economy and help ease the cost of living for families. My Government will level up opportunity in all parts of the country and support more people into work."
Meanwhile, the Duchy of Lancaster passes to Charles, while Charles's title and fiefdom - Cornwall - goes to Prince William, now Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay. William was also made Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester the day following the accession of King Charles. The Duchy of Lancaster comprises a reported 18,433 hectares of land - for residential, commercial, and agricultural use - held in a trust for the ruler of the day. King Charles III will not pay inheritance tax, and neither does the Duchy of Cornwall pay corporation tax.
The New York Times, on September 13, a few days after the Queen's death, carried an article detailing how Charles has spent his life turning his royal estate into a billion-pound portfolio, increasing the value and profits of the Duchy of Cornwall by about 50%. Today, the 130,000 acre Duchy of Cornwall owns The Oval cricket ground, farmland in the south of England, seaside vacation rentals, office space in London and a suburban supermarket depot. The conglomerate's holdings are valued at roughly £1.2 billion. The New York Times says: "The Duchy of Cornwall was established in the 14th century as a way to generate income for the heir to the throne and has essentially funded Charles's private and official expenses. One example of its financial might: The $28 million [£24.27 million] profit he made from it last year dwarfed his official salary as prince, just over $1.1 million [£0.95 million]." In 2017, leaked financial documents known as the Paradise Papers revealed that Charles's duchy estate had invested millions in offshore companies, including a Bermuda-registered business run by one of his best friends.
These facts once again show the vested private interests which wield power and concentrate wealth in their own hands. They expose the nature of these anachronistic arrangements and underline the necessity for the people themselves to be sovereign.