Prince Andrew Thread 4

[Roussette]

I'm starting a new one as events seem to be moving again. Sorry I can't do a link to no. 3

Not really, because it's for different things, isn't it?

The sovereign grant covers official stuff. It's what we would pay any Head of State (and it's middling in costs for a HOS)

The other income streams cover everything else (upkeep of personally owned properties, hobbies, travel, racehorses, corgis, etc) plus things they opt to pay for (like repair to Windsor Castle).

And then allow for the surplus from Crown Estates that is given to the Exchequer - which is part of the agreement surrounding the sovereign grant.

If you start saying 'reduce sovereign grant' because other income means they are rich, then you risk them saying, 'OK but that means the whole deal is off and we no longer need to hand over income from Crown Estates'

We'd be worse off

Didnt The Queen only start paying tax after the Windsor fire and a lot of the repairs were funded by the public paying to visit Buck Palace

Maybe the 'surplus' they give to the Exchequer from the Duchys could be increased.

She owns the Crown Estates by dint of being Monarch, but I can't imagine they have the right to decide not to hand anything over.

I am conscious here Edith I am talking to a royal expert (you!) but from what I've read, they really don't have the power surely to suddenly think....I'm not handing over as much as before, in fact I won't hand over anything! It's not their private property, nor do the revenues belong to the monarch surely?
It's an arrangement agreed in advance I thought.

Not an expert!

I didn't think they handed over anything from the Duchies! Though I did think they paid tax on it now.

The Crown Estate is meant to pay for the monarch as monarch (IYSWIM) so should cover all official costs, plus costs of those who are working royals when on duty. It makes more than those costs. So when the Civil List (forerunner if the sovereign grant) was created, the deal was that the profits of the Crown Estate would be handed in their entirety to the Exchequer, and an agreed payment wouid be reururned to cover the costs of being Head of State. So it's not the monarch who decides how much the a Exchequer gets - it's the Government deciding how much the Exchequer returns (though of course that's after negotiations with the Palace)

It belongs to the monarch in the sense that everything to do with public finances belongs to the monarch and her government!

@BlanketsBanned

Didnt The Queen only start paying tax after the Windsor fire and a lot of the repairs were funded by the public paying to visit Buck Palace

Yes. Because there was a public outcry at how much the public was being asked to pay towards the fire repairs. People were also aghast at how poor the fire systems were. I think there were no fire alarms installed at the time.

Thanks Mono, but didnt the public ended up paying for about 70% of the repairs though by paying an entrance fee to visit B.P.

@EdithWeston

Not really, because it's for different things, isn't it?

The sovereign grant covers official stuff. It's what we would pay any Head of State (and it's middling in costs for a HOS)

The other income streams cover everything else (upkeep of personally owned properties, hobbies, travel, racehorses, corgis, etc) plus things they opt to pay for (like repair to Windsor Castle).

And then allow for the surplus from Crown Estates that is given to the Exchequer - which is part of the agreement surrounding the sovereign grant.

If you start saying 'reduce sovereign grant' because other income means they are rich, then you risk them saying, 'OK but that means the whole deal is off and we no longer need to hand over income from Crown Estates'

We'd be worse off

No they do not own the Crown Estates, we do. And the sovereign grant has risen at a ridiculous level of inflation over the last six years.

Edith you're an expert in my eyes, I have learned a lot from you!

And wasn't it John Major and his Government who brought in a law to say that the SG could only ever go up not down.

I think the RF will say the settlement was paid from private income. I think Prince Charles has paid some and the Queen and once PA has sold the Swiss chalet he will have to pay it back. Can't see PC letting him just have the money.

There's no need to use that (Sovereign Grant) funding channel when others are available

I suspect it's that "others" which concerns some of us. Even now he'll doubtless have retained dodgy pals who'll stump up, and despite the window dressing I see nothing to suggest he's any more under control than he ever was as regards his personal links

As for the RF wanting to keep all the revenue from the Crown Estates - which Charles is reported to favour anyway - let's not forget that the pre-1760 arrangements involved them paying for the armed services, the civil service and more. Somehow I doubt they'd want to take that back on in return for the money

Is my memory playing tricks or did I hear Nicolas Witchell say yesterday that some money will be forthcoming from the Duchy of Lancaster?
Sorry if this has already been discussed on here, I haven't rtf updated thread.

I don't understand the different income streams of the private RF as opposed to the Institution of the monarchy either. One might almost conclude that they were being deliberately obscure ... .

Well, as the Dowager Countess of Grantham would say, 'the ruth is neither here nor there; it's the look of the thing that matters'.

This looks like a big heap of shit for the monarchy, and the 'explanatory' details of the financial arrangements don't make the shit go away - rather, those details are flies buzzing around annoying people even more.

Wasn't it John Major and his Government who brought in a law to say that the SG could only ever go up not down

That was the Sovereign Grant Act of 2011, under the Cameron/Clegg alliance, Roussette

www.taxpayersalliance.com/the_sovereign_grant_needs_a_reality_check

The 'explanatory' details of the financial arrangements don't make the shit go away

No, but the near impossibility of finding the actual truth may - or rather the questions may remain but the hope is that, faced with stonewalling and the dubious use of whatever and whoever suits, people will get bored and move onto something else

Spinning was correct that questions can be dangerous for monarchies, but that's why they put so much effort into shutting them down

Thks Puzzled I knew someone did!

Why were no serious questions asked when PA was representing the country as a trade representative, liaising with the FO etc? They must have known the people he was associating with.
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I thought questions WERE asked, and the job taken off him. Allegedly at Charles insistence. Andrew doubtless hopes his mother lives for ever, Big Brother will have no mercy

He ceased being Trade Envoy over a decade ago, after the furore of his continuing association with Epstein after E's conviction.

www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jul/21/prince-andrew-trade-envoy-palace

newsthump.com/2022/02/16/the-queen-could-afford-prince-andrews-settlement-by-making-her-own-packed-lunch-and-ditching-netflix-insists-kirstie-allsopp/

Maybe she could just get Aldi's own brand of gin

@Redshoeblueshoe

Maybe she could just get Aldi's own brand of gin

Wasn't she reported late last year to be giving up alcohol altogether ??

Must have known that, like a pelican, there's an enormous bill in front of her

Yes, I read that she had given up alcohol, which I think is one of the reasons why she has lost weight.

Hasn't Prince Andrew ever had any private money of his own? Hasn't he ever been left any money?

I wonder if Prince Andrew will have to ask the permission of Nicholas Witchell and Emily Maitlis to be allowed to go to his father's memorial service.

upinaballoon - He served in the Royal Navy for 22 years so would have been paid for doing that. He also has a Royal Navy pension of about £20,000.

Up until 2019 he was given an allowance of about £250,000 as a working royal. It is speculated that since then the Queen gives him an allowance from her own private funds.

I would imagine that the Queen Mother left him some money as she left all her great grandchildren something, so would have thought her grandchildren would have inherited money as well.