King Charles has been accused of profiting from the dead as insiders claim his property empire is using their assets as ‘free money’ and a ‘slush fund’.
The monarch’s private estate the Duchy of Lancaster has long collected assets owned by the people who died in its jurisdiction without a will or next of kin in a feudal system known as ‘bona vacantia’.
In the past decade, it’s collected more than £60 million which, after costs, is said to be distributed to charities set up by the late Queen.
These include the Duchy of Lancaster Jubilee Trust, established in 2001, which supports the upkeep and preservation of heritage assets across the estate for the ‘public benefit’.
But internal duchy documents obtained by a newspaper outlet reportedly show how funds are increasingly being used to fund the renovation of properties that are rented out for profit.
The 2020 policy entitled SA9 states that funds can be used for the ‘public good’ to repair, preserve and protect duchy properties when they’re categorised as a ‘heritage asset’.
However, the definition goes beyond listed buildings and includes any that fall within different categories including those in conservation areas or a location of outstanding national beauty (AONB), or if they’re deemed to be of ‘local historical importance’ or of special scientific interest.
A newspaper analyst suggests the 2020 policy gave the duchy licence to spend bona vacantia on as much as half of its massive property portfolio.
Three sources familiar with the duchy’s expenditure confirmed to the newspaper outlet that the estate was using revenues amassed from the dead to renovate its huge property portfolio.
One said that duchy insiders regaled the bona vacantia funds as ‘free money’ and a ‘slush fund’.
Properties identified as suitable for funding include townhouses, holiday lets, rustic cottages, an old petrol station and barns, including one used to facilitate partridge shoots in Yorkshire.
One document refers to the renovation of an old farmhouse to help convert it into a high-end residential let while another project saw a farm building transformed into commercial offices.
In some instances, the funds have been spent to purchase log burners for properties owned by the King and rented out by his estate.
The practice is said to help make rental properties more profitable, and in turn, benefits the King, who in his first annual payout since inheriting the estate from the Queen received £26 million for the duchy.
Am I shocked, of course not. The nefarious tightfisted family are sitting on millions of pounds for turning up to smile and shake hands, and how some people support this mob is shocking.
The Royals have been doing things like this for an extremely long time – they really need the cash, don’t they? And if it’s going to charities to maintain his grounds rather than charities to help people, then it’s going into his pocket.
It’s all done to protect the Royal billions. Do they have no shame when it comes to unearned income? They’ll take every penny.
The money is going to refurbishing private lettings rented out for profit, and maintaining venues used exclusively by the King for his jollies and as a slush fund, and we are the unsuspecting suckers, they must be chuckling their heads off, and yet they’re always screaming poverty.
Sucking money out of dead people, do they have no shame? Of course not, they’re greedy beyond belief.
This is just phenomenal greed, and it was said that the SA9 was introduced in 2020. Fancy that, this Government slipping in a rule change when everyone was looking elsewhere. Who would have thought?
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 