Royals face calls to dissolve 'disgraceful' private estates

King Charles is facing calls to dissolve his lucrative private estates and refund the cash-strapped NHS after it emerged he is making millions from renting out ambulance parking spaces and sub-standard properties.

- ATHENA STAVROU

The monarch and Prince William have sparked uproar after it was revealed they are benefiting from rental deals with public services – including the armed forces and state schools – on their private estates, the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall.

The two estates earned the royals upwards of £50m in the last financial year, with both being exempt from paying corporation tax or capital gains tax.

Charles has been asked to reconsider an £11.4m deal struck by the Duchy of Lancaster last year to store a fleet of electric ambulances, owned by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London, in one of the estate’s warehouses for 15 years.

Campaigners described the deal as “disgraceful” and a “money-grabbing activity” which ought to be reconsidered by the King.

“I think it is disgraceful actually, given the NHS is under so much pressure, for the royal family to charge for ambulance parking and other NHS uses,” Dennis Reed from Silver Voices, a campaign group for elderly people, told the Daily Mail. “[It] sounds rather like a money-grabbing activity. And I would hope because of the publicity there will be a rethink in the royal household.”

The investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches and The Sunday Times also reported last year that William’s Duchy of Cornwall had charged the navy more than £1m since 2004 to build and use jetties and moor warships on the Cornish coastline.

The investigation found that the Duchy will also earn around £600,000 over the lifetime of six different leases agreed with local state schools.