Can we do something about William and Charles profiting from the NHS etc ?

[Ukisgaslit]

If You haven’t seen it , the Times and Channel 4 Dispatches programme did some proper old fashioned investigative journalism and revealed how Charles and William via the Duchys are charging schools, the NHS and charities ( some they are patron of!) to use ‘their’ land.
It is not ‘their’ land - it is state land , as the crown estates are. The Duchys were overlooked in 1760 when George 111 handed his holdings over in return for annual handouts from the state - they were overlooked as they were worthless then.
They have made the Windsors billions since the mid 20th century and no corporation tax or capital gains tax paid. William recently refused to continue providing the little financial information that his father offered.

Aside from the obvious fact that the king is in a unique position, being above the law whether we like it or not ( though why is William treated as also above the law?) surely they are humiliated to be revealed as ripping off schools and charities and hospitals?

Where is the Windsor mea culpa and offer to repay with interest? Answer came there none.

So AIBU to expect MPs to please act and fold the Duchys into the crown estate ? The UK is in a weakened state and allowing this feudal greed to continue unchecked diminishes our society further .

@Nanny0gg
I would imagine if they’ve built on land they don’t own or use buildings they don’t own then I’m sure they do.
No ones reporting on those though.
So 🤷‍♀️

What does a "good king" mean?

Honestly the number of people who get distracted by how lovely Kate's hair is, forgetting that they pay for it to be that lovely, is embarrassing.

I think there are many more important issues to address within the NHS first, eg the massive number of managers and their ridiculous salaries (in the news recently), or allowing cosmetic surgery/'sex change'/infertility treatments, etc etc,while there are people waiting (and dying) who are sick and injured. The royal thing will of course have been going on for years before it was in the news, and while I am not defending it in the least, it is way down the list of problems to be resolved. There will be many many wealthy landowners and business people who make huge profit from the NHS. (Michelle Mone is one who springs to mind, still at large afaik)

😂

Uh oh - talking points went awry there didn't they?!

@GeneticsDna
That’s really interesting, thank you. The way I read it is that changing things is possible. Complicated, and with varying implications, but possible.
Would you mind detailing the source? (Apologies if I missed it.)

And,@Ukisgaslit , despite contacting mnhq in two different ways, I am yet to hear back as to why my post was deleted. So I will continue posting, hopefully not in vain!

The problem with that argument, @Portakalkedi , much like the ‘too complicated’ one is that nothing will ever happen about anything.

Governments don’t just deal with one thing at a time, and addressing the extraordinary publicly funded wealth of one family doesn’t mean that the way the NHS/social care/education is funded should not be addressed too.

Thanks for the update @Tutorpuzzle

I think you are entitled to an explanation as to why two of your posts were deleted

I don’t think any Government would do it. Not in our lifetime anyway

We’d need a French style Revolution

No need for a ‘revolution’ - I’m sure it’s not impossible to take the Duchys under the auspices of the Crown estate.

In fact the Windsors should be offering this . They may say that they were unaware that their fiefdom was taking millions from the NHS and charities that they are patron of
Well now they know.
What have they got to say about it ?

They are abusing their privileged position ( they got away with it for centuries) so where is the example from the head of state and head of the COE ? Where are the amends ?

I think they are just charging like any other landlord.
I doubt there are many that would
offer services ie land, for free
offer to pay higher taxes
I can’t see anyone currently paying the lower tax rate offering to pay the higher so everyone is treated the same.

Things could change if public opinion does but I just don’t think the countries there yet…….

In terms of making amends this country as a whole has a lot to answer for, the RF paying more is a tiny tiny piece of that pie.

Any other landlord does not also have their entire lives funded by us.

@SavingTheBestTillLast Its more than a public opinion issue though
.Windsors dont have to obey the law . They offer a ‘voluntary’ amount of tax . A select committee asked for proper access to Duchy accounts decades ago and the MPs were ignored .

This is a fundamental insult to the population. Yes other companies rent premises of course they do . But those companies are subject to the law and their books can be inspected .
That does not apply to Duchys .

Yes @Menstrualcycledisplayteam
We fund them because they are somehow ‘special’ and yet they take from the very services we are also funding and we rely on

And we wouldn’t be aware of it wasn’t for a long term investigation . And still silence from the Windsors .
That shows contempt

Duchy land et all isn’t owned by the country ?

Which brings us back to the legal complications of changing that some of which @GeneticsDna posted here.
and round and round we go…..

Parliament is sovereign as a poster above pointed out
Have you been following the court case of the Greek deposed royals . They left with next to nothing !

Duchy or no Duchy, do we really think that if / when the property is transferred to the Crown Estate that the NHS won’t still be charged rent? Yes, it’ll go to the Treasury, but that’s hardly a bastion of financial prudence so I can’t see it making very much difference to anything!

Seriously? You seriously can't see the difference between the money going to private individuals to spend on themselves as they see fit and the money going to the treasury for the public good? You can see no difference between those two things?

So, because it's hard, we shouldn't do it? Lots of things are hard, doesn't mean they aren't worth doing.

I'm embarrassed to live in a country where we still have a royal family, where there are still people who scrimp and save themselves just to keep up a decent standard of living but are happy to spunk millions on a bunch of people who wouldn't p!ss on us if we were on fire.

If you’d read what I had written you’d have noted that no, I don’t think the money going to the treasury would end up being used for the public good. They can’t manage the budgets they currently have, revenue or capital. It’ll be spent on vanity projects and ill thought through plans that do nothing to improve public services. By all means take it from the Duchies if there’s a plan for doing public good (however you define that…) Otherwise it’s just going from one feckless bunch to another.

But, @Tryingtokeepgoing , that’s like anyone self employed saying “well, as the govt are so useless with money, why should I bother declaring everything, they’ll just waste any tax I pay.”

You may say they even have a point but if HMRC worked out something was going on they could carry out an investigation. That can’t happen with the RF as they are able to just not allow it to happen (as pointed out by the op).

When things are going well in the country the RF can get away with this. But things have been grim for so long now I do wonder if they wouldn’t be wise to start making changes themselves. Revolutions don’t happen overnight, and royal families really only survive on the goodwill of the populace. And the populace, as far as I can see, are more than a bit pissed off with things in general at the moment.

The amount of money they make from having ambulances parked at a site I found particularly upsetting, which was revealed in that investigation of royal family money. 😯

Well said

Yes no amount of whataboutery will erase that impression. It’s egregious

so why would it be any better if it went to the current government instead ? as the rates would still apply ?