royal money-go-round…
Notwithstanding talk of orgies, toe-licking and Ghislaine’s favourite s*x toys, the most shocking revelation from Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s memoir is that she remained adamant that those in Epstein’s circle all knew exactly what was going on. He not only didn’t hide what was happening but took a certain glee in making people watch, and vicariously participate. And people did watch – scientists, fundraisers from the Ivy League, titans of industry – and they didn’t care a jot. I hope the publication damns them all.
However, being a tight-fisted, mean-spirited northerner, it’s not long before my cynical thoughts drift back to these shores and I contemplate the fact that not only is ‘Prince’ Andrew still being paid for out of the public purse but so is the whole royal family in its entirety. How so I hear you cry?
The monarchy’s principal source of cash is the Crown Estate, a vast property portfolio of land and holdings currently valued at over #20bn, yep that’s over #20,000,000,000.00 owned by the monarch by virtue of merely holding the position of King, of birthright. It includes 287,000 acres of agricultural land and forests; the Windsor Estate and Ascot Racecourse; all of Regent Street and half of St James’s in London: shopping centres and office blocks in various cities: more than half the UK’s foreshore (coastal land that’s underwater at high tide); and almost all the UK’s seabed within twelve nautical miles of the coast. Quite a stash. And that’s before we question the actual ownership of the royal art and stamp collections, the fleet of Bentleys, Rolls and Astons, and thoroughbred horses.
Going back to medieval times, the Crown Estate was used to raise revenue for government and in the eighteenth century George III formally donated to Parliament the generated revenue in exchange for an annual grant, the ‘civil list’, Renewed for every monarch down to Charles III and rebranded in 2011 as the ‘sovereign grant’, it is negotiated in private annually and used to fund the royal family’s official duties, travel and the upkeep of the palaces. It currently stands at #132m. Above and beyond this, the taxpayer foots undisclosed security and policing costs – estimates for QEII’s funeral are as high as #162m and the subsequent coronation, between #50-100m.
In addition to this public estate, the King and Prince William also privately own two fiefdoms, the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall. Worth collectively #1.8bn, they charge the public hundreds of millions in rents, leases and other fees. The Duchy of Lancaster, for example, charges Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital #11.4m to store their ambulances, and is set to collect #28m from wind-farm cables crossing chunks of coastline. The Duchy of Cornwall will pack-out its coffers with #37.5m from leasing out Dartmoor prison.
Without getting into any tangible, true value-analysis of the royals, there is something deeply unsavoury about The Firm squeezing cash from our beleaguered public services in this manner. Furthermore, and this from estates that are both ludicrously exempt from capital gains and corporation tax, and a family free from any inheritance tax, the absolute lack of transparency smacks of, and I’ll stop just short of blatant corruption, at best of duplicity and complete hypocrisy. For an institution that continually claims to be modern, enlightened, socially responsible and sympathetically-aware, it makes me consider that perhaps Randy Andy isn’t the only bad-apple in the barrel.
