Three Houses or Four

[antelopevalley]

Yahoo has an update piece about the three houses the Cambridges now have, alongside some of the renovation costs. Still, it is one less than Charles who has four residences.
William and Charles - the great environmentalists.

"When they moved into Kensington Palace: There was understandably some controversy when it was revealed that the move would also be coming with an eye-watering renovation bill to be picked up by the British taxpayer. Neglected and run-down, Apartment 1A at Kensington Palace required a number of major changes and updates for it to be brought up to liveable standards (and allow the couple to add their own personal touches). In 2014, the Sovereign Grant confirmed that it cost over $5.4 million (£4.5m) to complete.

A necessary investment: At the time, press aides told outlets, including myself, that the costs were a necessary investment as the couple planned to use the property as a permanent base to work and raise a family. This house, they assured, would be their forever home. Though the Cambridges had another residence in Norfolk—a property on the Sandringham Estate for school holidays and escaping the city—the $1.8 million (£1.5m) renovation costs for Anmer Hall, a wedding gift from the Queen, were all paid for privately.

The new driveway: In 2019, the duke and duchess added a further $1.2 million (£1 million) to their Sovereign Grant-funded renovation costs at Kensington Palace by installing a new driveway. It was a figure that left many scratching their heads, but was mostly ignored by sections of the press who were more focused on how much Harry and Meghan would be spending on their new crib.
The move to Windsor: Despite the palace promise, the Cambridges’ time at “KP” has come to an end after nine years. Later this month they will move to a new abode in Windsor, for a life “away from the goldfish bowl” in London and what a source tells me is an effort to give their children “as normal a life as possible”. It’s a decision that has raised a few eyebrows, particularly at a time when the country is dealing with a major cost of living crisis. Picking up a third home, especially when one of them cost the public so much to renovate, is hardly the norm for regular folk.

Adelaide isn’t costing the taxpayers anything?? Still, Adelaide Cottage comes at no expense to anyone but the couple, I’m told. Rather than buy, the couple have chosen to privately rent. Any desired cosmetic work or refurbishments will be paid from their own pockets. (It remains to be seen how the duke and duchess will travel to and from London—their love for helicopter trips, which the British press prefer to turn a blind eye to, are not just an unfair cost to the public but also go completely against William’s environmental concerns).

They wanted to get the kids out of London. “They thought about moving to [their home in] Norfolk, but as active senior working royals they could never be that far away from London, so that’s where Windsor came into the picture,” says the source."
uk.style.yahoo.com/prince-william-kate-windsor-move-kensington-palace-153609273.html

Lack of transparency is one of the RF's biggest millstones

But also, I'd suggest, one of its biggest safeguards, if what has already come to light is anything to go by ...

It's bizarre how Meghan bashers continually push the "Sunshine Sachs PR" line.

You do realise that all royals have PR departments, work with PR companies, and spend huge sums of money on PR, right? Prince Charles' (now former) publicist even won a major award for PR Professional of the Year for his PR work in rehabilitating Charles and Camilla's public image.

I'm sure Harry and Meghan using a Jewish PR firm is in no way related to the constant attacks, insinuations and conspiracy theories made over them doing exactly the same as every other royal.

Oh yeah. Earthshot.

I asked it on another thread but no-one's yet come up with an answer as to why Wills needs to rent offices for this and the Royal Foundation when (as this thread demonstrates) he apparently has acres of in- house office space at his disposal.

But also, I'd suggest, one of its biggest safeguards, if what has already come to light is anything to go by ...

That ship's hopefully sailed, Puzzled.

Or at the very least they're casting off

That ship's hopefully sailed ... Or at the very least they're casting off

I'd like to say "sunk without trace", except that the RF still have enough influence and resources at their disposal to make quite sure that much never reaches the public

If what's already come crawling out is stuff they didn't guard closely enough, I have to wonder what the rest looks like ...

Sunshine Sachs were more known for image rehabilitation so don’t seem to do subtle, which is at odds with the RF PR approach. They take a very hands on, very expensive approach, otherwise the very mundane sussex appearances wouldn’t be elevated to such heights.

they tried to help Weinstein rehab his image, helped Ben Affleck during a hot mess period , got in trouble for their Wikipedia whitewashing.

And as for trying to fling in an anti-Semitic accusation- shame on you.

www.pressreader.com/uk/scottish-daily-mail/20190907/281646781826015

Heres a summary of sunshine Sachs

I asked it on another thread but no-one's yet come up with an answer as to why Wills needs to rent offices for this and the Royal Foundation when (as this thread demonstrates) he apparently has acres of in- house office space at his disposal.

It is because because of accounting/auditing rules. The government (vis the National Audit Office) recognises that no activity can be undertaken without the entity providing it incurring central administrative costs. If the entity providing services is a charity, that charity should not be expected to subsidise these overhead costs from donations.

So, in simple terms, there is a real cost to running the KP offices (e.g. power, heating, broadband, security, renting printers and photocopiers etc as well as physical space). Even if that gets swept up in the funding provided to the Cambridges by Prince Charles, and is shared out between any and all of the Cambridges’ various projects, a charity needs to reflect its proportionate share of the cost of its office space and administrative costs. It can’t simply sweep it up as a “donation” from the Duchy of Cornwall.

But what are they to do? Any expectation for a monarch actually being in the lead front and centre in battle pretty much stopped completely with George II and had been pretty patchy for centuries before that. We want them to "work" but still be available for the frilly bits, with added mystery; perhaps there will be a long term way found of doing so. I have total sympathy with republicans but I do still want them to stay, really.

I've come to the conclusion that we keep them as something to look at, to admire, criticise, despise as the mood of the country takes us. Royalty not as leaders but as entertainment. The long period of stability with E2 will soon sadly end and who knows? What we have now is much more Angevin, or the famous quote about Hanoverians being like ducks and trampling their young; yet here we still are, in different corners, fighting like Cambridge and Sussex are York and Lancaster (the stakes are more comfortable though, we will not die in ditches near Towton because William takes a helicopter too often or Meghan's podcast is a bit pants)

Just my thoughts.

CPL593H

I wish I'd written that.

All that needs to happen is the cost of office space etc needs to be in the accounts as an in-kind donation.
This already happens when private companies provide a free office to a charity.

That’s how it could appear in the company’s (the donor’s) accounts, antelopevalley. We are talking here of the accounts of the recipient charity. Different issue.

The recipient charities accounts would say under donations, in-kind donations, with a note saying it was office space etc.
I was involved until last year as a volunteer for a charity that had this in their accounts, so I am not talking theoretically. I know it is fine. It is a local business that donates some free office space, phones and stationery.

Me too puzzled

That’s a very thoughtful post.

We have celebrities for entertainment. The Royals are a type of celebrity. I would remove everything and say they could keep the official titles but they had to make money. They could flog a Royal line of goods for money.

I think Charles is already doing that.

The Duchy stuff? So they can work for a living, hand back the palaces, remove the paid for security, helicopters and masses of money, and work for a living like the rest of us.

All that needs to happen is the cost of office space etc needs to be in the accounts as an in-kind donation

Thank you, antelope

As you say plenty of charities operate their offices in donated spaces. There really seems to be no reason for William to be duplicating lighting, heating, running costs when the offices at KP are already providing all these anyway.

I think Charles is already doing that

His Duchy groceries?

The brand he flogged to Waitrose when it started making a loss?

And again on the subject of office space for royal charities, a quick google reveals Andrew's tawdry Pitch@Palace had its offices at BP so there's precedent for doubling up.

That's straightforward republicanism and as I said above, I have no argument with the belief that monarchy is an anachronism. However, I'm far from sure that the majority of people actually want rid of it, perhaps that will change.

I do take issue with the security aspect (and I include Harry and Meghan in this, actually) I think if as of tomorrow they were Mrs Elizabeth Windsor and family, there will still be significant risks from all sorts of ill intentioned people, because they would be internationally known ex Royals. Given the fact they did not control the circumstances of their birth, throwing them to the wolves safety wise would not seem fair to me.

The arrangement you are talking about though antelopevalley applies where the office facilities are donated. If there are charges for the central administration -say for the staff (people generally want to be paid..), rent to be paid for the office premises etc then they will need to be paid. And the expenses included in the accounts, as the National Audit Office expects, and as these were.

And as for why the Foundation might have to pay for its facilities at KP, there are sound reasons for setting up a charity that “stands on its own two feet” in this way. Earthshot is now fully independent, having a balance sheet that shows its full cost base will be important in attracting donors going forward.

@Serenster It makes zero difference in attracting donors. Everyone knows this is William's project so not really independent at all. It would only make a difference being independent if the Cambridge Foundation was seen as dodgy, and as far as I am aware, it is not.
A more transparent set of accounts would help attract donors more. Any donor worth their salt will be asking lots of questions to clarify that set of accounts as it tells you nothing.

Unless they are planning to accept donations in the way Prince Charles does and so understandably want it to be seen as independent if there are press scandals?

Please do tell me where you’d expect to see the accounts be more transparent, antelopevalley. I’m always interested in public interest entity reporting!