Prince William charges RNLI £60k a year to launch lifeboats

Prince William’s Duchy of Cornwall makes money from life-saving RNLI lifeboats in Cornwall, it has been claimed. An investigation by The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches showed how much money King Charles and Prince William make through their Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall, respectively.

In 2023, the Duchy of Lancaster generated £27.4 million for the King and the Duchy of Cornwall raised £23.6 million for William. Between the duchies, the King and William are making millions of pounds each year by charging government departments, councils, businesses, mining companies and even the NHS a series of commercial rents and levies, dating back hundreds of years, including from charities they are patrons of like the RNLI.

The Duchy of Cornwall’s various sources of income include rent from lifeboat stations in Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The report showed that lifeboat stations have to pay £600 a year in total to go over the beaches the Duchy owns to answer lifesaving calls or even for training.

Figures from the investigation also showed that the Environment Agency has to pay the Duchy of Cornwall £57,000 over 77 years for permission to maintain the weir in Bude. The ferry operator between Padstow and Rock has to pay the Duchy £75,000 over 25 years to run their business while the Rock boatyard has to fork out 10% of its revenue every year.

The Cremyll shipyard on the Cornish side of the Tamar also has to pay £3,600 a year to the Duchy of Cornwall to allow the mooring of boats at the site. In addition, the Cornwall Wildlife Trust has to pay £4,000 over 25 years to maintain the Pendarves Woods near Camborne. On the Isles of Scilly, Prince William is profiting from a public toilet. He receives £60 a year from the Council of the Scilly Isles for public toilets on the island of St Martin’s.

The Duchy of Cornwall said the figures highlighted by The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches are “misrepresented”. It told CornwallLive that the annual rent is low (or de minimis), but showing it multiplied by years “misrepresents rents as being high”, adding that it has been in partnership with many tenants for long periods without any issues.

The Duchy of Cornwall owns hundreds of homes rented to families; many have EPCs below the minimum legal standards designed to prevent climate change.

The two duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster own 180,000 acres of England and Wales with a combined value of more than £1.8 billion. According to the investigation, the King and the prince both pay income tax voluntarily at the highest rate (45%) on the income they receive, but the revenues generated by their vast property empire are exempt from corporate profits tax under a special arrangement with the Treasury.

The investigation into the finances of both duchies showed that while operating as private enterprises, they make money from tax-payers. For example, the Duchy of Cornwall charges the Royal Navy to refuel its own warships at Devonport in Plymouth while the Army pays the Duchy of Cornwall rent to train on Dartmoor. Also in the middle of the national park is Dartmoor Prison, which pays Prince William.

According to the figures, the state-funded Launceston College must pay £189,000 over 30 years to use a Dartmoor farmhouse owned by the Duchy as a base for Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expeditions and educational trips.

The Duchy of Cornwall insisted it is a responsible landlord that is committed to “continuous improvement of its properties” and works closely with its tenants to “actively address energy efficiency of properties across our portfolio while minimising the impact on residents”.

A spokesperson for the Duchy said that, since 2019/20, it has achieved a reduction of about 300 tonnes of CO2 equivalent in its residential and rural commercial buildings. They said in many cases the requirement for an EPC does not apply, because of the tenancy agreement in place or the length of time a tenant has been in the property.

Regarding charging the Armed Forces to use land on Dartmoor and elsewhere, the Duchy of Cornwall said that the agreement with the Army for the use of Dartmoor dates back to the 1800s and that, like all rents received in the national park, the cash raised is used for its upkeep.

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.”

Campaigners have called for an investigation into how the Royal Family makes it money. The campaign group Republic has called on the Government to scrap the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall and bring their assets into direct state ownership.

The group said the Duchies are not the private property of Charles and William, but are Crown assets belonging to the state. Speaking for Republic, Graham Smith said: “The Dispatches investigation shows how the Duchies are doggedly pursuing profit at every turn, at huge expense to the public and charities.

“The Duchies are not private property, they are state assets. Parliament allowed the royals to maintain control over these estates when other land was surrendered three centuries ago. It’s time parliament abandoned that arrangement. There is no possible justification for allowing William and Charles to control the Duchies and take the profits, while avoiding taxes and facing accusations of neglecting tenants.

“Why is the government paying Charles and William for the use of state land? Why is the taxpayer effectively paying Charles and William over £23m a year each? There needs to be a full inquiry and disclosure on the Duchies. We need all the records laid out for everyone to see, we need to ensure all their assets are returned to the state, so money can be saved and profits can be spent on local communities.”