Donald Trump has “one little disagreement” with King Charles – but it’s one that brings in £1bn to the Monarch’s Crown Estate.
In a recent interview on GB News, the former US President told Nigel Farage that he thinks His Majesty – who Trump claims to know “very well” – is “a wonderful guy”. But the ex-POTUS revealed they disagree on one topic.
The King’s Crown Estate profits from six wind farm projects, which bring in around £1 billion pounds a year. However, Trump thinks wind turbines are “extremely inefficient”, “very expensive” and “really hurt the environment”.
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Trump told the former UKIP and Brexit Party leader that he and the King don’t see eye-eye on wind turbines. He said of the King: “I got to know him very well. He does love the environment. I will tell you he’s an environmentalist to the nth degree and that’s okay.”
Farage said: “He likes windmills.”
And Trump replied: “He does, so we can have one little disagreement. I’m against them. I think they’re extremely inefficient. I think they really hurt the environment.
“When you look at them going all over the oceans and all over the plains and then you see these things and you know when you look at them in 10 years and they’re all rotted out and rusted.
“Then you have to buy new ones and the new ones never come and then they shut them off and they’re sitting there rotting.
“Look, I’m not a fan and it’s very expensive, the most expensive form of energy and they don’t even they don’t even make it if you don’t subsidise them you don’t have to subsidise energy.”
Earlier this year, the King has asked for profits from a £1 billion-a-year Crown Estate wind farm deal to be used for the “wider public good” rather than as a funding boost for the monarchy.
Under the taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant, which is currently £86.3 million a year, the King receives 25% of the Crown Estate’s annual surplus, which includes an extra 10% for the refurbishment of Buckingham Palace.
Six new offshore wind energy lease agreements, announced by the Crown Estate on Thursday, have generated a major windfall for the Estate, which would usually lead to a jump in the monarchy’s official funding.
But Charles, who highlighted the cost-of-living crisis in his Christmas message, has requested that the extra funds “be directed for wider public good”, instead of to the Sovereign Grant, at a time when many are facing financial hardship.
It is not clear as to the exact amount of taxpayer funding the King has passed up and asked to be used for public good, but it is likely to be many millions.
The Crown Estate – an ancient portfolio of land and property – belongs to the reigning monarch ‘in right of The Crown’ but it is not their private property.
The monarch surrenders the revenue from the Estate – more than £312 million a year – to the Treasury each year for the benefit of the nation’s finances, in exchange for the Sovereign Grant.
