Charlie Windsor, who is to be imposed as Britain’s next head of state, has been caught in a serious financial conflict of interest according to news media reports.
Charlie visits Padstow on annual tour of Cornwall
The “Paradise Papers” have revealed that in 2007 the Duchy of Cornwall secretly bought £86,000 worth of shares in Bermuda-based Sustainable Forest Management Ltd. A friend of Windsor, millionaire horse breeder Hugh van Cutsem, was a director of the company.
The future feudal head of state then campaigned, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), to “alter climate-change agreements” without disclosing that the duchy had a financial interest in the outcome.
The Duchy of Cornwall is a vast holding of public assets that Windsor is allowed to manage and take profits from as long as he is first in in line to be the next head of state. For Windsor the payment of income tax on these profits, which is compulsory for other citizens, is voluntary.
According to the BBC “Graham, former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said Prince Charles’s actions amounted to a serious conflict of interest”.
The Paradise Papers also show that the duchy invested over £3m in Cayman Island funds in 2007.