The National Audit Office and Parliament’s public accounts committee have asked the Windsor family to make public the financial records of the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall. The property and investments managed by the duchies provide hereditary head of state Liz Windsor and her son Charles with total incomes of £20m a year.
Members of the committee questioned the managers of the duchies on 7 February and criticised them for “lack of transparency”. John Bourn, head of the audit office, told MPs that he would like to examine the books of both duchies and report to parliament on what he found. MP Gerry Steinburg told the manager that “It looks like you’ve been doing a bit of fiddling” to increase the income of Charles Windsor.
The Duchy of Cornwall has capital of £463m. The increasing values of its properties allowed Mr. Windsor to increase his income last year from £9.9m to £11.9m. No corporation or capital gains tax is paid by the duchies. Unofficial estimates suggest that Mr. Windsor has benefited from this to the tune of £20m in the last ten years.
Both duchies belong to the people of Britain although this is disputed by the Windsor family.