The Prince of Wales has emerged unscathed from the economic downturn, which has forced the Queen to accept a pay freeze from the taxpayer. This week’s annual report from the Duchy of Cornwall, his main source of income, is expected to show that in some respects the prince is spending more than the Queen.
While the Queen has cut back on staff, the prince has hired extra housekeepers, valets and gardeners. His official household stands at 125, compared with 94 five years ago.
The average salary at Clarence House is £49,835, compared with £33,221 at Buckingham Palace. Charles’s staff were reported last year to have had bigger pay rises than those offered to their counterparts at Buckingham Palace.
The duchy’s annual review will show spending on Charles’s official duties now comfortably outstrips the £7.9m civil list given to the Queen for her state duties. Aides say it reflects the prince’s increased charitable work and the support required for Princes William and Harry.
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The duchy, created in 1337 to provide an income for the Prince of Wales, has increased its surplus revenues, which are passed to the prince, from £7.4m to £16.5m over the past decade.
By contrast, the £7.9m civil list for the Queen’s official duties has not been increased for two decades. It was announced in the budget that the civil list has been frozen for another year. Though the Queen also receives an income from the Duchy of Lancaster estate, which amounted to £12.2m last year, this is mainly used to pay expenses to other members of the royal family for the duties they undertake.
Ian Davidson, the Labour MP, said: “The income from the Duchy of Cornwall should now be taken into account when assessment is made of how much the royal family actually needs. These lands are effectively held in trust and are not the private land of any individual.”
When Prince Charles originally inherited the Duchy of Cornwall, he voluntarily paid 50% of its surplus revenue to the Treasury. He now pays 40% tax on personal income, but the money allocated for official duties is tax deductible.
In 1992, revenues from the duchy were just £3.4m, but they have climbed steadily ever since. The duchy comprises about 134,000 acres of land in 23 counties, mostly in the southwest of England.
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It owns property worth about £560m and has investments worth more than £45m. Properties range from office premises to large farms to the pioneering development of Poundbury in Dorset. In the Scilly Isles the duchy receives more money from housing benefit than any other landlord.
The prince is directly involved in the management of the duchy and has faced criticism over some of the schemes devised to help boost its coffers. He has recently been attacked for trying to build on farming land owned by the duchy near Bristol.
Last week the prince faced criticism for intervening in a £3 billion property scheme at Chelsea Barracks in London. A High Court judge said the prince’s actions were “no doubt unexpected and unwelcome” when he wrote a letter to the Qatari prime minister urging him to reconsider plans for a modernist building development. The prime minister was also chairman of the company behind the project.
The duchy’s hefty revenues have helped Charles expand his activities and official household. Spending on his official duties and charitable projects has increased from £6.1m in 2005 to £9.4m in 2008-9. He now has 54 staff in his household department, which includes butlers, servants and gardeners, compared with 36 five years ago. The Queen has a household of about 300 staff.
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