22 Jun 2009
On the eve of the publication of the official Clarence House finance reports, the Daily Mail reveals that Charles’ ’salary’ has been unaffected by the recession. This means that his estimated income last year was an astonishing £18 million.
This figure is made up mostly of profit from the Duchy of Cornwall estate, topped up with over £2 million pounds in grants received directly from the taxpayer (to cover air and rail travel and the running of Clarence House).
The Clarence House press officers like to tell us that Charles pays tax on his income. That’s partly true – he pays tax on anything left over after ‘business expenses’ and ‘official spending’. As you can imagine, the definition of those terms gets broader every year. Last year he paid just £3 million in tax on a £16 million income.
After lobbying by the Prince’s aides, Alistair Darling agreed to include the running of William and Harry’s PR offices as one of those ‘business expenses’. That’s the same team responsible for this letter in yesterday’s Telegraph by the way.
Some will try to tell you that the Duchy estate belongs to Charles. Nonsense. It was established in the 14th Century to provide an income for the heir to the throne and Parliament is entirely at liberty to end this arrangement. In a republic they’d be no heir to the throne so the capital and the income it generates would go to the Treasury, potentially to be used for public services.
This entry was posted on Monday, June 22nd, 2009 at 11:13 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments are now closed.
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June 22nd, 2009 at 12:03 pm
As long as the “subjects” hold to the view that the royals have some kind of innate, trancendant and mysterious virtue this obscene theft of public money will continue. Notice the lack of attention from our freeloading MPs to the royals expenses. I begin to think that only demonstrations on the streets, as in Iran, is going to bring this bunch to heel. They are as bad as the Mafia.
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:13 pm
So, at todays money then, during the last forty years the public has paid this inarticulate piece of capitalist window dressing the equivalent of about £750 million. Fantastic!
June 22nd, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Charles has discovered a wonderful secret, namely that he can do as he likes, say what he likes, behave in an irresponsible manner as in the matter of the architects, make great claims for medical practices which have no foundation in fact, pontificate in his untutored way on diverse issues, and there is no way of reining him in, or should it be reigning him in. The money just keep rolling in, and he is treated like a demigod by those near him, criticism being treated as treason, effectively. The Royals have survived since the hints of Republicanism in the days of George lV by keeping their heads down, behaving like the bourgeoisie, while retaining quite a few powers under Royal Prerogatives. Vested interest is a powerful force in the UK as is the maxim, much used by Apologists, ‘if it ain’t broke , don’t fix it.’ Personally I think it is broke, and I hope Republic can help to eliminate it in my lifetime. How often have we heard the word ‘curmudgeonly’ in respect of anti Royal sentiments, an archaic word which has all the weight of Establishment disgust behind it.
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Criticism of monarchy is not treason. Republicans love their country,and simply wish to see it become a more democratic place. Incidently ,I always thought the word “curmudgeon” referred to an “angry old man “. A lot of republicans are of course,young.
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:15 pm
They are worse than the Mafia, Brogia.
Because at least the Mafia know what they do is criminal.
June 23rd, 2009 at 10:44 am
No details yet, but there’s a newsflash on the BBC news site that Charles Windsor’s take from the taxpayer has increased by little short of 25%. Nice work if you can ensure that you’re born into the right family.
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:01 am
For that much money I could easily keep my opinions to myself! hell’s bell’s…I’ll keep my mouth my shut for for a mere 10%.
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:54 pm
What do they do? I heard Jack Straw and Brown saying that Her Majesty had full confidence in the new Speaker and was sure that he would fulfill the …………… You know the rest.
Then I hear that Bercow is offering to pay money back after shafting the tax payers himself; Cameron hates him, someone else describes him as a “preening, self important, shifty” git on the make. So what was Elizabeth Windsor doing approving him. Isn’t she supposed to provide some kind of check on this nonsense?
I suppose if you are up to your ass yourself in freeloading, and your family are taking whatever they can get, it makes criticising anyone difficult. Charles Windsor is taking more cash than even the worst of the MPs.
They don’t get it. The MPs, I mean. In my neck of the woods (literally) they would cheerfully string up most of these MPs pour encourager les autres, I suppose. They use rather more earthy expressions. The discussion down the pub recently has been an excercise in catharsis that has to be heard to be believed. That performance chosing a speaker is so irrelevant that it might as well be on another galaxy.
They plebs want blood.
June 23rd, 2009 at 2:50 pm
658 official engagements? How the hell does he find time to get involved in stuff like the Chelsea Barracks fiasco? Did anyone here realise that Charles Windsor is, in fact, Superman?
June 23rd, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Depends on how you define “official engagement” Dave. I’ll wager most of them are so trivial he can get 10 done in a day.
And of course there’s all those jollies on private aircraft all over the world to pontificate about carbon footprints or so on, which most of us would probably define as “holiday”.
June 23rd, 2009 at 5:08 pm
If an increase in air and rail travel of of £1.71 million shows concern for carbon emissions I’m a Dutchman. This guy travels in style, at vast expense, raising urgent questions over the necessity for him to do so at all.
June 23rd, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Above should read “an increase in air and rail travel to £1.71. million”
June 23rd, 2009 at 5:45 pm
An average of over £4,600 a day for air and rail travel seems a tad excessive…
June 24th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Charles is a loathsome character and was the catalyst for me joining Republic several years ago, having long since been a republican at heart.
Regarding the Royal Finances and the Reform Charter; I’m not sure where I’m going with this but I’m concerned that reform will lead to an upsurge in support for or at least toleration of the Monarchy. I read somewhere that Lenin had similar concerns about reform diluting the cry for fundamental change.
I’d like to hear what others have to say.
June 24th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Hi Stuart
I agree in general with your concerns over reform, but I think our Reform Charter is only really looking to shed more light on the expenses, so people can see the extent of the abuse and misuse of public funds. It’s not really about reforming the monarchy itself, or about making it more tolerable or acceptable. Ultimately we don’t see the government accepting our Charter, and so it will continue to serve us well in putting us on the right side of the debate about transparency and accountability.
June 24th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Just reading about the setup that the monarchy enjoys, makes my blood boil. The whole thing is a dirty scam.
We need to have a debate on what makes people support the monarchy, and then forward the required message to encourage people to see sense.
My own wife loves the monarchy. She thinks they do a great job. Aaargh. If i cant convince the wife, then what?
June 25th, 2009 at 5:05 am
@Nick.
Lots of people in this country “do a great job”, but they don’t get such ridiculous salaries from the taxpayer for doing it.
That phrase always makes me balk anyway. Typical PR sound-bite which is meaningless upon analysis.