BBC Breakfast reports on King Charles and Camilla arriving in Samoa
Well, I sincerely hope that the King & Queen didn’t sit down at 8pm on Saturday night expecting to see a brand new shiny-floor show on Channel 4 called The King, The Prince & Their Secret Millions. Because it was anything but. In fact, they may have found it a trifle unsettling.
As we know Channel 4 chooses to do things differently, especially with their documentary work on the Dispatches strand. This was an outstanding example.
The central charge: The King and the Prince are “royally ripping off” (their words) the taxpayer for “millions” for the private estates they manage, the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster to the tune of £50m.
This included from “the NHS and the Defence Forces”.
By the way, the “Prince” in the title wasn’t Prince Andrew for a change. He can relax for a moment.
It was Prince William’s turn to take the flak, and considerable flak it was. And it shows a week isn’t so long in Royal circles either. Just a few days ago most were singing his praise for two excellent documentaries on the homelessness situation.
Ironically, it was over his custody of the Duchy of Cornwall private estate which he inherited as the Prince of Wales on the death of Queen Elizabeth. He is accused of charging the MOD for using Dartmoor for target practice, and manoeuvres rather than a peppercorn rent.
William was also receiving £1.5m a year in rent for Dartmoor prison, which is empty! Sounds a like deal hatched by Fletcher on an episode of Porridge.
Neither Duchy denied any of the figures presented in this first-rate film, and while we know a good deal about both Duchies, it’s not a good look, especially not making money from mining activities in Cornwall. Not every environmentally PC, William.
Does anyone care? I expect Rachel Reeves will. She will be picking up the phone to HMRC immediately.
It’s probably the best news she will get this weekend.
The King, The Prince & Their Secret Millions: Dispatches, C4, Saturday
