Our Insight investigation reveals:

All 5,410 landholdings and properties held by the royal duchies

The NHS will pay the King’s duchy £11m over 15 years to rent a warehouse for ambulances

Ministry of Justice pays William’s duchy £1.5m a year to use Dartmoor prison

The army pays to train on Dartmoor, the navy to moor and refuel its fleet

Charges are levied on Liverpool container port, the Mersey ferry — and a sewage pipe
Charities have paid millions to rent a 1960s office block in central London

Posted by ButIDigress79

30 comments

  1. I follow the royals vaguely; I like the fashion and eat popcorn during the drama. Where is Kate was honestly peak meme, and showed how out of touch they are.

    The news that they take millions from the NHS actually angers me. My daughter has severe epilepsy and we’ve made numerous 999 calls. I’ve seen first hand how stretched the services are, and how difficult it is to get an ambulance. Once, 999 had an answer machine saying that they were too busy to take calls. It’s frightening that ill and vulnerable people are not getting assistance that is a human right. Fuck them for profiting from it.

  2. There’s just so much to unpack here, I don’t know where to start. They put out a press release making it seem as if they ‘granted’ the NHS Foundation Trust garage space for ambulances, etc., and worded it to come across as if they were being charitable, when in reality they rented the space for a significant sum. In another case, Charles brokered a deal to charge the St. John’s Ambulance charity for garage space and he’s a patron of this charity. Isn’t this a conflict of interest? As a royal and supposed patron of charities, Charles has access to meeting rooms, influential people, and charities that trust him to act in their best interests. Instead, he uses his position to make deals and profit from them. Shouldn’t being a patron mean supporting these causes, not exploiting them for financial gain? This makes me suspicious of some of the press releases and charity they claim to do.

  3. And this is just their domestic real estate right?

    On the flip side, wouldn’t it be fair to show their outflow as well, and what they spend in time and money to keep the circus afloat?

    I’m American so I’m going to stop there

  5. Doubt this will make much of an impact. Royal family have 90 percent of the media on their side.

  6. Yikes … but also not that surprising all land in the duchies is rented.

    The mold electricity stuff is actually yikes tho. 50 households living in poor conditions is gross.

  7. This is sick but I’m sure it will be ignored by the royalists. In fact, I don’t see any of them even commenting in here.

    Could it be because Meghan and Harry weren’t mentioned?

  8. $1.3M a year for the NHS to have space for ambulances? Wow, think of the people NHS could help instead with that money.

  9. But William is doing so much to end homelessness!! And all these riches with no inheritance tax. The fact they are able to derive profit off this untaxed inheritance is a scam

  10. This is terrible for their tenants. I hope they do something about those dirty, drafty homes, but all landlords are bastards, so I don’t have any expectations.

  11. I’m American and did not read the article, just perused through and read the comments here. As an American, owning land and building a real estate portfolio is considered the hallmark of living a solid middle-class life. Can a Brit or commonwealth citizen explain why the land ownership is problematic? I get that they don’t pay taxes and should be, and also understand that much of their holdings are ancient and ill gotten. But besides the taxes and history, is it frowned upon to own land?

  12. I talk about what a scam I think the duchies are all the time on this sub (and my opinion that the royals, the Tories, and the British media work in concert to benefit one another at the expense of average citizens of the UK) and am often downvoted for it. This reporting is validating. I only hope this info brings about change, because the most powerful people in the UK have intentionally designed a system where average citizens can’t afford to heat their houses, the NHS doesn’t have the resources to help people, etc. all so that wealthy people can hoard even more wealth. It’s disgusting.

    This is why the royals work to maintain their position. They use taxpayer funds to employ a whole PR team whose job it is to craft the image of the royal family as hardworking, charitable, etc. and use shiny hair, expensive clothes, and strategic family drama to distract the public any time the truth threatens their power. The royal family is a business; they are not public servants.

  13. I used to work in charity towers, terribly maintained building. Sickening to think of the millions in rent lining their pockets rather than helping people with cancer.

  14. They also both pay 45% tax on their income they review from the Duchy. So yes they earn rent but pay tax on profits of the Duchy. If it’s not them as landlord it’s someone else.

  15. I read it. The exact details are new but the overall picture isn’t. Anyone who has read about the duchies already knows this and i know I’m American but I don’t understand why people here are shocked about anything? They’re basically run as businesses and that’s been the case for decades. Landowners charge rent. No shit lol. Charities pay rent too. Governments pay rent when they don’t own the land they’re using. Idk I don’t get the outrage here.

  16. Using lands seized exercising sovereign power for private gain and business, insisting they get operate as a commercial entity using those seized lands, while also getting all kinds of special treatment and exemptions, and also still being supported by the taxpayer, all with very little transparency? Smells like corruption and greed to me.

  17. Not sure how revelatory it is that public services like the NHS and armies that fight for ‘king and country’ and prisons bearing the name ‘HIS MAJESTYS prison service’ rent their facilities from HIS MAJESTY. I think that thats the whole point of being a kingdom ruled by a 1000 yr old monarchy.

  18. William and Charles are both raging hypocrites! This report coming out during William’s homeless doc and Earthshot awards is perfect. William does a lot of talking but does not practice what he preaches.

  19. The Duchy of Lancaster is hardly an unknown entity. These systems have been in place for centuries, what exactly is “revealing” here?

  21. Wait, this is the supposed tea? That the dutchies they’ve acquired over 1000 years are run as businesses? Frigid-ass tea.

  22. Just for some context the Mirror interviewed Claire Williams who said she complained but turns out not quite the story as per the Telegraph

    https://archive.md/XEatP

    “The Telegraph understands that Ms Williams has been in arrears since 2005 and that the Duchy worked closely with her to develop a repayment plan, which she did not follow.

    An independent surveyor is understood to have visited the residence in May this year, and found that it had not been heated or ventilated properly and was therefore causing mould. The former tenant is said to have not formally reported damage to the property and has not allowed access for contractors on numerous occasions.”

  24. Anyone find it interesting that this was delayed past Charles’ trip but lands right on time for William’s Earthshot?

  25. Regardless of a Monarchy or a Republic, inequality will still exist.

  26. Why do some folks here seem indignant that they knew some of this information while others didn’t? It clearly shows the need for major publications and TV to cover this kind if thing in a regular basis. Anything that helps educate the public is good. I often see complaints in this sub that there’s no real journalism about the royals. Well, here’s some journalism.

  27. This is a bombshell. That animated map! This is not just or fair. They need to reform the monarchy.

  28. You mean tenants are paying landlord rents? How shocking!

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