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<\/p>\nPrince William has stopped imposing rents on lifeboat stations, the fire service, village halls and school playing fields after a Sunday Times investigation revealed his private property empire was making large sums of money from charities and community groups. <\/p>\n
The Duchy of Cornwall, which provides William with a private income, said it had taken the opportunity \u201cto stop and reflect\u201d since the story and the estate now wished to adopt a \u201cnew policy\u201d to ensure it was \u201ca force for good in the years to come\u201d. <\/p>\n
In November, a joint investigation with Channel 4\u2019s Dispatches obtained the details of 3,536 properties held by the Duchy of Lancaster, which provides the King with an income, and 1,874 held by the Duchy of Cornwall.<\/p>\n
The files revealed that Charles and his elder son were making millions of pounds a year in tax-free profits by charging charities, the armed forces, the NHS, schools, the prison service and councils for the right to use lands, rivers and seashores largely seized by the monarchy in medieval times. <\/p>\n
Charles and William operate as commercial landlords while holding a special status exempting them from paying corporation tax on their profits. Last year, the Duchy of Lancaster raised \u00a327.4 million for the King, and this year the Duchy of Cornwall raised \u00a322.9 million for the prince, which they use to fund their private homes, personal income and staff. <\/p>\n
This private income is separate from the \u00a3132 million of public money, the sovereign grant, the royals will receive from the Exchequer this year to finance their formal duties, palaces and official households.<\/p>\n
The Duchy of Cornwall has now announced it will stop imposing the following rental charges: <\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a3600 a year from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution for permission to use the prince\u2019s beaches at Salcombe, Sennen Cove, the Lizard, Rock and St Mary\u2019s in the Isles of Scilly.
\u2022 \u00a315,000 from Devon county council over 50 years to allow Princetown fire station to operate on duchy land.
\u2022 Thousands of pounds a year from communities for permission to use village halls in Curry Mallet and Newton St Loe, allotments in Bradninch and a community orchard in Newquay used to help disadvantaged groups.
\u2022 \u00a33,000 over 20 years from the Trinity House maritime charity for the right to operate the Bishop Rock lighthouse in the Isle of Scilly.
\u2022 Thousands of pounds a year from councils and schools so the public can use playing fields, rugby pitches and recreation grounds in Princetown, Corston, Clandown near Bath and Stoke-sub-Hamdon in Somerset.
\u2022 \u00a3125,000 over 25 years from the government for the use of the visitor centre and shop at Tintagel Castle, which fund the castle\u2019s preservation.
\u2022 \u00a3200 a year for the use of a children\u2019s play area in Poundbury, Dorset, and rental payments from the Scouts.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The duchy says it will continue to charge the Ministry of Justice \u00a31.5 million a year to use HMP Dartmoor, even though it is now empty<\/p>\n
REX FEATURES<\/p>\n
The duchy said it was also reviewing the rents it charges state schools. Devon county council is required to pay the duchy at least \u00a3319,000 over 21 years for the right to operate Princetown Community Primary School, on Dartmoor. Farrington Gurney Church of England Primary School, near Bath, is paying \u00a360,000 for the use of its premises over 25 years.<\/p>\n
Will Bax, the keeper of the records for the Duchy of Cornwall, said: \u201cOur new policy recognises our key role at the heart of communities. As such we will waive rents for grassroot community tenants and give up to 50 per cent rental discounts to charity tenants where they directly rent space from the duchy, and are active on the ground within our communities. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe transition to the leadership of the 25th Duke of Cornwall marked a significant moment for the estate. Together, we are building on the strong foundations and seizing the opportunity to strengthen our positive impact, ensuring the duchy remains a force for good in the years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite this new approach, the duchy says it will continue to take large taxpayer-funded rents from government departments. <\/p>\n
Over the past 20 years, it has charged the Ministry of Defence at least \u00a3900,000 for the right to moor boats needed to train recruits on the waters surrounding the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, the country\u2019s top naval academy.<\/p>\n
The duchy also charges the Royal Navy \u00a310,000 a year for access to its own oil depot, which is used to fuel the nation\u2019s warships, at Devonport in Plymouth, the UK\u2019s biggest naval base. <\/p>\n
The duchy imposes further charges on the army for the right to train within Dartmoor National Park. The King is head of the armed forces and William is commodore-in-chief of the submarine service. <\/p>\n
In addition, the duchy says it will continue to charge the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) \u00a31.5 million a year \u2014 amounting to \u00a337.5 million over the 25 years of the lease \u2014 to use HMP Dartmoor, despite it now standing empty because of high levels of toxic gas recorded on the site. The duchy\u2019s lease compels the MoJ to spend a minimum of \u00a368 million over the next decade updating the prison buildings. <\/p>\n
Last week the duchy said the MoD and MoJ both obtained their \u201cown independent specialist advice in connection with licences and leases held with the duchy including on matters of rent\u201d.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
The duchy makes \u00a33,000 over 20 years from the Trinity House maritime charity for the right to operate the Bishop Rock lighthouse in the Isle of Scilly<\/p>\n
ALAMY<\/p>\n
Dorchester Community Church will continue to pay at least \u00a31 million to the duchy over the duration of its 250-year lease. The duchy said: \u201cThis property is subject to a unique legal position. Rent will not be reduced.\u201d <\/p>\n
The tax and operating status of the duchies has long been a source of contention. The Duchy of Lancaster says it operates as a commercial company and the Duchy of Cornwall says it is a \u201cprivate estate with a commercial imperative\u201d. Under a memorandum of understanding with the Treasury, the estates receive special tax status.<\/p>\n
This means they pay no capital gains or corporation tax and do not have to comply with property laws such as compulsory purchase orders.<\/p>\n
The King and the prince both say they pay income tax voluntarily at the highest rate (45 per cent) on the duchy money they receive. The last time Charles published his taxes, for the year 2021-22, he paid income tax of \u00a35.9 million, which amounted to 25 per cent of the \u00a323 million duchy profit, because he deducted expenses he considered related to his official duties.<\/p>\n
William has never declared how much tax he pays. Kensington Palace declined to say how much income tax the prince paid on the \u00a322.9 million he received from the duchy last year.<\/p>\n
Last week, the Duchy of Lancaster said it was \u201cactively reviewing\u201d its own rental charges, which include charging the NHS more than \u00a311 million for the right to park ambulances in a London warehouse owned by the King. Its latest accounts have not yet been released.<\/p>\n
Baroness Hodge of Barking, the government\u2019s anti-corruption champion, said the duchy\u2019s reforms showed \u201cthe best of journalism does have an impact\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a good first step but they need to do more,\u201d she said. \u201cThe royals need to remember that they are receiving a huge amount of taxpayers\u2019 money\u200b via the sovereign grant. That puts the onus of responsibility on them not to exploit their position and charge public services an arm and a leg. In addition, if they \u200bwant to act commercially it is wrong they get a tax advantage \u200bwhich gives them an unfair competitive advantage.\u200b\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prince William has stopped imposing rents on lifeboat stations, the fire service, village halls and school playing fields…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[7709,7714,7713,533,2832,532,2831,7710,519,7711,7712],"class_list":{"0":"post-241677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-british-royal-family","9":"tag-catherine","10":"tag-catherine-middleton","11":"tag-kate-middleton","12":"tag-prince-of-wales","13":"tag-prince-william","14":"tag-princess-of-wales","15":"tag-royal-families","16":"tag-royal-family","17":"tag-uk-royal-family","18":"tag-william"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114804114441277703","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}