King Charles and Prince William reportedly make millions in income from contracts that their respective royal estates have with charities, public services and more, a new investigation claims.

 

 

On Nov. 2, The Sunday Times and the current affairs show Dispatches on Channel 4 in the U.K. unveiled a joint investigation making the allegation that King Charles, 75, and Prince William, 42, are generating this revenue through the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall. A Dispatches program titled The King, The Prince & Their Secret Millions debuted the same day.
In statements shared with PEOPLE, spokespersons for the Duchy of Lancaster and Duchy of Cornwall emphasized each estate’s private status.

“The Duchy of Lancaster manages a broad range of land and property assets. It is self-financing and does not receive any public funds in connection with its activities,” said a spokesperson from the Duchy of Lancaster. “It publishes an Annual Report and Accounts that is independently audited and available to view on its website and complies with all relevant U.K. legislation and regulatory standards applicable to its range of business activities.”

Offering a similar comment, a Duchy of Cornwall spokesperson said, “The Duchy of Cornwall is a private estate with a commercial imperative which we achieve alongside our commitment to restoring the natural environment and generating positive social impact for our communities.”

Prince William became Duke of Cornwall in September 2022 and since then has committed to an expansive transformation of the Duchy. This includes a significant investment to make the estate net zero by the end of 2032, as well as establishing targeted mental health support for our tenants and working with local partners to help tackle homelessness in Cornwall,” the spokesperson said.

The probe focused on the Duchy of Lancaster, a private estate of 44,748 acres of land in England and Wales owned by King Charles as sovereign, and the Duchy of Cornwall, a private estate of almost 130,000 acres of land in southwest England, owned by Prince William as the Prince of Wales. Both estates were established hundreds of years ago to provide income for the sovereign and the heir to the throne, respectively.
The Sunday Times said that a five-month investigation illuminated how the two duchies are making millions by “charging government departments, councils, businesses, mining companies and the general public via a series of commercial rents and feudal levies on land largely seized by medieval monarchs.”
The Duchy Files show the royals charge for the right to cross rivers; offload cargo onto the shore; run cables under their beaches; operate schools and charities; and even dig graves. They earn revenue from toll bridges, ferries, sewage pipes, churches, village halls, pubs, distilleries, gas pipelines, boat moorings, opencast and underground mines, car parks, rental homes and wind turbines,” the outlet alleged.

The arrangement is perceived to be problematic because the royals purportedly “operate as commercial landlords” with the benefit of a special Treasury agreement “exempting them from paying tax on their corporate profits.”
Reported leases and contracts in King Charles and Prince William’s names reveal that they are making money “by charging the army, the navy, the NHS [National Health Service], the prison service and state schools to use their land, rivers and seashores,” The Sunday Times claimed.

The outlet said that the duchies earned about $65 million last year, with the Duchy of Lancaster driving about $35 million for the King and the Duchy of Cornwall making about $30 million for William.
Through the Crown Lands Act 1702, King Charles receives income, not capital, from the Duchy of Lancaster, according to its history. Meanwhile, his eldest son Prince William chooses to use the revenue from the Duchy of Cornwall to pay for his public, private and charitable activities, per the duchy’s FAQ.

Over the summer, the Prince of Wales made waves by declining to disclose how much he paid in taxes on the $30 million payday for the Duchy of Cornwall’s 2023-2024 financial year.