Campaigners have written to the Duchy of Lancaster accusing them of misleading the public over its legal status.
Graham Smith, CEO of campaign group Republic, has challenged the Duchy to stop referring to the property portfolio as a 'private estate' and to come clean about who owns and controls the land.
The Duchy is Crown property and therefore property of the state, a point highlighted and supported by ample evidence in a recent report.
In a letter to Alastair Martin, chief executive of the Duchy, Graham Smith says:
"The revenues and assets of the Duchy, as state assets, can reasonably be counted toward the cost of the monarchy. Likewise we can conclude the King is effectively paid more than £25m a year from public funds. That cost is a matter of public interest, particularly during times of economic hardship."
The letter asks Martin to "have the website amended to correct this error, and to publicly clarify and acknowledge the Duchy’s status as Crown and state property."
The letter also explains:
"Control of the Duchy and receipt of the profits as private income are, in essence, perks of the job."
"There is widespread misunderstanding about the status of the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, and this is not helped by the Duchy's use of this misleading language about private estates. They are only private estates insofar as they are kept private, just as a government minister might have a private office. But the Duchy, like the office, is not private property but property of the state."
Speaking today, Graham Smith said:
"To call the Duchy a private estate is so misleading as to be dishonest. To say it is owned by Charles is equally dishonest. The Duchy is Crown property, and therefore state property."
"Charles should show some leadership and insist on honesty and openness about who owns the Duchy."
"If Charles abdicated he would lose the Duchy. If parliament chose to roll the Duchy into Crown Estate land or some other public body they would be free to do so, as it is parliament that controls the Crown."
"When the monarch agreed to transfer control of land to parliament three hundred years ago MPs allowed him to retain the two duchies as a source of income. They did not let him claim the duchies as private and personal possessions."
"In effect, by allowing this archaic arrangement to continue, we are paying Charles more than £25m a year in public funds, money that could be spent on public services and local communities."
"When the government is cutting welfare for disabled people why are we allowing Charles to profit from public land?"
"The Duchies need to be scrapped, but that debate is being deliberately muddied by the misleading language used by the Duchy of Lancaster, the royals and their supporters."
"I am hoping the Duchy will respond positively to this challenge, and that journalists also stop referring to the Duchies are private estates."
Do you like this page?