If it's true that we are paying the PoW 1.5 million a year rent for Dartmoor prison...

[CurlewKate]

...among many other things, do you think that's OK? If so, why?

@BustingBaoBun I will watch it tonight

and queue up outside in the cold to see them come out of a church

very culty like

I read that last year. Its eye-opening.

I find the exemption of inheritance tax on their personal cash and CGT exemption particularly galling, especially in the context of the changes to farmers’ IHT in the latest budget. How can it be justified? If farms have to pay IHT then the Duchies should too.

I remember Major saying something about ‘not wanting to dilute the monarch’s wealth’ which is madness- they’re happy enough to dilute everyone else’s wealth!

I think this is kind of my point. What the public expect from a monarchy is unrealistic. Most people seem to think that we finance them and that they somehow repay this favour by drifting round hospital wards etc.

I'm not a royalist by any means. I think it's probably time for a genuine discussion on the future of the RF. But, without really knowing the ins and outs, and without seeing a finalised financial plan, I'm concerned it could go the same way as Brexit..... (ie people making outlandish claims about the financial benefits, and voting the thing through without any actual coherent plan)

I think it's been pointed out already, but it's worth noting that the royals do not have to pay inheritance tax.

So everything Charles inherited from his mother was tax free. This was written into statute by John Major when he was PM and very quietly slipped under the radar because in return, the queen agreed to pay tax on income voluntarily. So by law, they never have to pay inheritance tax. Never.

Prior to that they had not been taxed on their income from their private sources. Though always happy to take from the public purse, of course.

If Charles decides that he no longer wants to pay tax on his income, he doesn't have to.

That’s a fair and reasonable point but how can objective decisions be made when so much of the relevant financial information is under wraps?

There isn’t enough clarity between what is public wealth and what is private wealth?

And even when information is available, how much is scrutinised independently?

Does Prince Harry own British land privately, as a result of him being Duke of Sussex?

No. They are just paper titles

But this is about the two Duchies.
Duchy of Lancaster
Duchy of Cornwall

Please can you clarify how much of the annual £20+ million profit from each of the Duchies goes to KC and PW respectively?

And why do they not pay tax on the profits?

£27.4million for William.
Between Charles and William it is £50 million.

They won't disclose how much tax they paid.

The coherent plan would be to fully enter into the 21st century, which means that as a fully fledged democracy, to have a democratically elected head of state, whose office would be at the fraction of the cost to run and maintain. I am under no illusion that this undertaking would be a massively expensive and complicated process, but eventually, in the long run, being a democratic Republic would be of great benefit to modern Britain, and perhaps then we would be a big step closer toward true equality, within our society. And yes, the tourists will still come. They will come in the droves. That won’t change.

But how would the crown estate be divided up? And what if both parties can't come to an agreement - do we just go French on them..... 😬

@bitesthedust it really isn’t the case that it’s only now in 2024 people are angry about this. There have always been republicans in the UK (we even had a republic for a short while!) and the royal family have certainly been less popular in my lifetime (I am in my 60s). If you did not grow up in the UK then a lot of what you think about the country is based on stereotypes or popular entertainment. Nobody I know unquestioningly accepts the monarchy and that is not a recent thing at all.

Well, colour me shocked 🙄

As long as we can keep our incredible military bands and traditions and cavalry regiments, I would be totally in favour of this, with the forces swearing allegiance to the citizens of the UK and promising to protect and defend our shores, our democracy, our freedom, liberty, justice and fairness!

Edited to say: I would also use some of the RF’s estates to house our service men and women a bit better!

Nobody I know unquestioningly accepts the monarchy and that is not a recent thing at all.

Gosh, I know plenty of people who unquestioningly accept the Monarchy. Both in real life and on MN it is obvious.

There have been many posts over a long time with people saying 'I just don't care'.

But they're not though. Is reading comprehension not your thing?

How rude.

We used to live in a Duchy property which had no heating. But we paid well below market rent! Like we paid a month what most people paid a week. I'm sure it would have been rated well below E efficiency by modern standards, but it was fab, an amazing family home which we could actually afford.
Imagine if they'd done all the work to bring it up to standard, then quadrupled our rent?! Then we'd have actually had something to complain about. But they didn't, and we lived there for years.
When there's not enough rental housing, I really don't begrudge a large landowner renting out decent housing cheaply!

The thing is, how many heads of state (in the developed world anyway) own half the fucking country right down to the seabed. These vast swathes of land and everything on them were seized or acquired by nefarious means. They don't pay Inheritance Tax or Corporation Tax either (even though they're earning millions from commercial enterprises). Any other head of state would have to pay those taxes and adhere to the law of the land. They don't have to pay income tax either. It's just that things got a bit tetchy with the peasants about 20 years ago and the Queen thought she'd better do something to appease them.

Where can you watch it @BustingBaoBun

Hi. Yes, it's on All4... channel 4's catch up channel. It is only on there for 30 days.

@Gruffalowings

The King, The Prince & Their Secret Millions'. Watch it here on Channel 4:

www.channel4.com/programmes/the-king-the-prince-their-secret-millions?cntsrc=social_share_ios_the_king_the_prince_their_secret_millions

Oh rilly?

Interesting defense.