A group campaigning for Britain to have an elected head of state has said Prince William has some explaining to do over his household accounts. Republic also called for the income the senior royal derived from the Duchy of Cornwall to be given to local communities. The Prince of Wales received a private income from the Duchy of almost £6million this year, but he has been criticised for not publishing an annual, household report in his first year as first in line to the throne.
Graham Smith, Chief Executive of Republic, said: “William has some explaining to do because a change of monarch and heir is no excuse to row back on what little transparency there is.”
He added: “There is absolutely no reason why William’s household cannot provide a full set of accounts for this financial year.
“As the recipient of public funds from the state-owned Duchy he should be reporting his income and expenditure.
“As Duchy profits appear to be growing to a record £24million it’s time we demanded the return of the Duchies (of Cornwall and Lancaster) to the people and for revenue to be spent on local communities.”
The Duchy generated record profits of £24.048m in 2022-23 – up £1.02m from £23.024m the year before, a jump of about 4.5 percent, according to the estate’s accounts.
William would usually be entitled to the full £24m as his private income, but his finances have been complicated after he became first in line to the throne half way through the financial year.
Kensington Palace said King Charles, as the former Prince of Wales, was entitled to £11.275m of the surplus before his accession, while William, who spent about six months of the last financial year as the Duke of Cornwall and Prince of Wales, is entitled to £12.773m.
But the Palace said as a “one-off associated with the change in Dukes of Cornwall”, the Duchy team asked to retain a proportion of the surplus for “working capital purposes” – the day-to-day running of the estate – this year.
The Duchy kept £6.873m, leaving Prince William with an income of £5.9m.
The annual figures were published on Thursday, in the same week William launched his drive to eradicate homelessness in six spots around Britain.
William is expected to receive the full £24m Duchy profit next year, but Alastair Martin, the Duchy’s secretary and keeper of the records, suggested the estate may not reach those record figures again.
He put the boost from £23m to £24m down to some additional one-off income, adding: “This will not continue and the surplus for 2023/24 will not be at this level.”
