C4 Dispatches on Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster

[Babadookinthewardrobe]

I couldn’t find another thread on this. I watched this yesterday. I am so angry. The royal family are grim parasites funding their luxury lifestyle from the sweat of the British people. Via the duchies they are rinsing the NHS and charities for millions. It’s horrific. No IHT, no CGT, no transparency, no consideration for the environment of which they are supposed to be stewards in the duchies.

Their behaviour and greed is absolutely grim
and I am so sick of the lot of them. I’m joining republic, I’m so shocked at what I’ve just seen. The French had the right idea.

It;s a warehouse to keep Guy's hospital electric ambulances in. It's just short of a million a year for this.

The Crown Estate’s tax has been covered a million times. He isn’t greedy. For example, he did this last year:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/19/king-charles-redirects-1bn-windfarm-profits-towards-public-good

I really don’t think they would be criticised by choosing to forgo a couple of mil for some hospital beds. And your suggestion that they have no choice is just laughable @Serenster, it really is. Who is holding them
down and forcing them to fleece the RNLI, armed forces, nhs? Nobody, it is Charles’ choice, heartily supported by William who favours less financial transparency. And now we can all see why.

Having watched it the rent seems below market level on most of them, they wouldn't disclose how much the MOD paid though so can assume it's a lot. Better than the government owning masses of land though, it would have been sold off decades ago to foreign investors.

I gather you don’t understand the concept of a constitutional monarchy then?

You’re criticising the monarchy for adhering to the constitution that controls it. Fine, but I doubt you mean you really want it to behave like it’s 1640 all over again….

Does it include any of these charities that receive peppercorn rents on Duchy lands?

Two of the charities of which Charles is patron have moved from a Duchy of Lancaster 1960s office block in London

the charities’ rent payments for offices in the building amounted to: £16.8 million from Macmillan; £10.3 million from Comic Relief; and £9.1 million from Marie Curie.
The rent on offices leased by Macmillan from 2005 to this year were increased over that period by close to 90 per cent. The charity left the building this summer in order to downsize and cut costs. Marie Curie has also moved out, complaining in its annual report of an “onerous lease”.

@Babadookinthewardrobe You still haven’t answered the question about whether you know for a fact this is the King’s decision or whether the rent agreements might be a contractual requirement. Some land has very specific cove nets on it or there might be a minimum rent requirement for non-charitable organisations in local statutes. How do you know for a fact that it is greed and not red tape and legal factors?

I would like the public to stop being fleeced by this mob of morally bankrupt bandits @serenster. If that means a republic so be it. As I said in my OP, I believe the a French had the right idea. Ooh look, the tourists still flock to France despite their lack of royal parasites. Fancy that.

@BustingBaoBun

Does the Duchy own the land or the building or both? Leasehold is a particularly tricky bit of law because of all the parties involved. If they Duchy did the build on partnership with a builder then they might not have full control over rents set. This is how it works for NHS hospitals but under PIP.

@Babadookinthewardrobe You’ve obviously never read the history of France if you think a French style revolution worked out well. Have you ever heard of Napoleon? The Bourbon restoration? The Penninsula War?

I do wonder at how ignorant people are sometimes.

The Duchys are controlled by The Treasury. Not the RF.

I think it worked out well for France that they are no longer saddled with royals yes. I believe the French would heartily agree.

Funny how the royals can lobby privately for some laws (tax, environmental proection and employment legislation) and get their way but not when the outcome would not favour them directly

I hope you're not bringing facts into this thread. Outrage based on a documentary please.

I thought managing them took all of William's time and is why he can't do more than one engagement a month? At least that was that some of the usual royalist posters have previously claimed

@Babadookinthewardrobe It took nearly a hundred years after the revolution for stability to return to France. It is never bloodless and it never creates the utopia people think it will. France still has massive social inequality. Getting rid of the monarchy just passed all the power to the upper classes. Most of the furniture looted from Versailles was flogged in private sales and is now in the possession of foreign billionaires. I don’t want that for my own country thanks.

If their hands are legally tied re. The rents, nothing stopping them donating the money right back is there?

If there was total transparency then we would all be able to see for ourselves how the finances were managed....and perhaps then we would be able to conclude it was all above board. But for some reason the Royals don't want transparency.

I despair! So many strong opinions here on the RF and the current set-up. And so little awareness of the constitutional position regarding the way we fund our Head of State and its historical roots.

Speaking as a bona fide French person (dual national) I can confirm that we are very pleased not to have a royal family any more.

Frankly if the constitutional setup means the RNLI paying for use of slipways to a ridiculously overprivileged bunch of numpties then it is rotten and needs changing.

I don't want violent revolution either. Tearing things down is the easy part; the challenge is to replace it with something much better. And historically, things do often get worse after a revolution before they get better (if they ever do).

But what I do want is radical reform. I think this current situation is untenable and I have little time for any arguments that it is OK. I think outrage is a wholly justified response.

@AuxArmesCitoyens

The King have £1 billion from Crown Estate wind farms to the treasury last year.

So glad you enjoy not having a monarchy. Has it made France a completely equal place where no one hungers or is that the high taxes and socialist government (all possible for a constitutional monarchy without removing the king as head of state).

The "they bring in tourists" argument is bollocks as well. We'd attract plenty of tourists if we turned all the royal properties into museums and historical centres rather than having them closed off with a handful of inbred parasitical grifters rattling around in them.

Marie Curie has also moved out, complaining in its annual report of an “onerous lease”.

Hmm. Again a bit of fact checking shows things are never as simplistic as you present them, BustingBaoBun.

The longer quote from Marie Curie’s annual report is set out below. The “onerous lease” is clearly because it had a long notice period that wasn’t able to be timed to coincide with moving into the new premises. This is perfectly standard in a commercial lease.