To say Balmoral could/should be National Trus

[Happyhapoydog]

for
Scotland or similar. Is Charlie going to want it? Don’t they all have their own estates?
I said this to a colleague who got really ANGRY as it’s ‘disrespectful’ after claiming only the Royals would have the money to upkeep the place. I said - turn it over to NTS or similar and give it back to the public.
she’s now not talking to me!

[antelopevalley]

We all know that when Royals have died vast amounts of wealth have been left behind. No inheritance tax is paid for that.

[Dotjones]

He doesn't pay inheritance tax because he doesn't really "own" any of the material wealth. For instance he cannot sell the land he has inherited.

[AngeloMysterioso]

His name is not Charlie.

[antelopevalley]

Except Gates does not have a law specifically exempting him from inheritance tax.

[MangyInseam]

Tax rules around the monarch are a lot more complicated than people realize, often having been deals of a sort where much of what was what was privately owned or other things that were normative were given up to the state in exchange for other concessions.

So people need to be clear about what they would be asking for if they want to undo these kinds of arrangements. Would they revert to the earlier situation?

I'm also not sure why people think that wealth came to people like this originally without doing any work. As far as those who inherit wealth not working for it, that's certainly true, but also true of people like Bill Gates or the Hiltons who can pass their money and assets on to their kids without people saying it should be confiscated.

[VapeVamp12]

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/king-charles-iii-queen-balmoral-museum-b2170332.html

Apparently Charles is considering turning it into a museum

[LadyFromage]

Looks like Charlie might be listening to you, OP...

www.timeout.com/uk/news/king-charles-wants-to-turn-balmoral-castle-into-a-museum-091922

[Happyhapoydog]

‘The Queen has not been buried yet’

christ, and don’t we know it…

[LadyFromage]

Ur... there's loads of public access to Balmoral.

I've stayed there twice and walked much of the estate - and I am a bog standard person

[Anniegetyourgun]

"How many properties do the RF have at their disposal ? 25 ?"

Between how many of them?

[Desmorelda]

Crikey the royal stasi are out in force 🙄
Why should Op sign over her one house (presuming she even has one of her own seeing that many folk can't actually afford one without substantial parental assistance). How many properties do the RF have at their disposal ? 25 ?

[sueelleker]

@User56785

I was saying just the same thing today to a woman at work about your house. You should sign that over.

😆😆😆

[VanL0rryTaxi]

The Queen has not been buried yet

[fyn]

@Happyhapoydog you are missing the point though, even if it was inherited by a normal person the IHT liability probably wouldn’t be that big.

Any land farmed privately would be 0% IHT liability, anything farmed on a tenancy would be 50% IHT, the house, historic buildings and parkland would be 0% IHT because they are opened to the public, any works of art would probably be 0% as they are available to the public. There would be BPR on a lot of the other assets. It’s very easy to reduce your liability down with the right knowledge and succession planning.

[Pumperthepumper]

@derxa

I was funded by the general public all my working life.

Were you incredibly privileged? Take the last public-owned crown you wore, how much was it worth?

[antelopevalley]

@User56785

I was saying just the same thing today to a woman at work about your house. You should sign that over.

But presumably OP only has one house. If OP has multiple palaces and mansions, then I agree.

[Wombat27A]

There is little to no money in public maintenance budgets. Beautiful buildings go to wrack & ruin unless they have a significant income stream.

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

lots of estates and houses that were once privately owned are now in public hands for many people to enjoy, rather than a few

National Trust membership is expensive. Even just ad hoc entry to their places is expensive

So giving it to the NT would (1) burden the NT with the cost of upkeep, meaning they have to increase their already expensive ticket prices and (2) open the house to what? A bunch of middle class families to visit on the odd weekend?

Come on.

And Balmoral isn't just the house. It has ridiculously extensive land with it which simply couldn't be appreciated on a day visit.

[Discovereads]

@Pumperthepumper

No, it’s private land isn’t it? Here’s a run down:

people.com/royals/all-of-king-charless-sprawling-estates-across-the-uk/

And the Dutchy estate covers a lot of land, not sure if that counts as private or not.

The Duchy of Cornwall isn’t private. It functions similar to the Crown Estate.
Queen Elizabeth II privately owned 20,000 acres, putting her at #35 in the UK.

So even if Charles III inherits the lot and you add in his collection of stately homes he already has, he might bump up say, 5,000 acres and be at #28 or so on par with Count Vighognolo’s U.K. property portfolio.

[RomeoOscarXrayIndigoEcho]

Remember it's not NT in Scotland. NT doesn't operate in Scotland.

NTS does - an entirely separate charity. The OP mentioned NTS but many of the PPs only mentioned NT.

[derxa]

@Pumperthepumper

That’s not even remotely the same thing though. Unless you’re also living an incredibly privileged life funded by the general public due to accident of birth.

I was funded by the general public all my working life.

[goodbyestranger]

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jul/14/queen-immunity-british-laws-private-property

Balmoral benefits from these wheezes. The whole lot are crooked.

[Discovereads]

@Pedallleur

UKs biggest private landowner. They can afford to run it and Sandringham plus the other houses e.g. Highgrove, Gatcombe Park. They do pay taxes but it's a bit grey. Article on this in The Guardian this week.

Hmm. All depends on whether you count the Crown Estates as King Charles IIIs land as if it were his private land.

#1 Forestry Commission with 2,200,000 acres
#2 Ministry of Defence with 1,101,851 acres
#3 Crown Estate with 678,420 acres
(Which while owned by King Charles as monarch, it isn’t privately owned by him and he only gets 25% of the profits from its revenues, the rest of the profits go to HMRC Treasury)
#4 National Trust and National Trust for Scotland with 589,748 acres
#5 RSPB with 332,000 acres

Finally, our first private owners start appearing….
#6 RICHARD SCOTT, DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH & QUEENSBERRY 280,000 acres
#7 ANDERS HOLCH POVLSEN (Danish billionaire ) 218,364 acres
#8 THE DUKE OF ATHOLL’S TRUSTS 145,000 acres
#9 UNITED UTILITIES (dam energy companies) 140,124 acres
#10 HUGH GROSVENOR, 7TH DUKE OF WESTMINSTER 140,000 acres
#11 DUCHY OF CORNWALL, 135,000 acres
(similar to Crown Estate, not privately owned by the heir to the Crown)
—— lots of other people —
#35 QUEEN ELIZABETH II, 20,000 acres

abcfinance.co.uk/blog/who-owns-the-uk/

[NotAScot]

It's private property. It could be donated of course, or sold, or subdivided or closed to public or ...etc... The owners decide.

[Pumperthepumper]

@derxa

I know this will have steam coming out of your ears but when I inherited my Scottish farm from my father I did not pay inheritance tax because agricultural land is exempt.

That’s not even remotely the same thing though. Unless you’re also living an incredibly privileged life funded by the general public due to accident of birth.