The King has become the first monarch to share the details of his annual tax payment, as the Mirror’s royal editor Russell Myers examines what the frank disclosure means to reassure the public on the Firm’s finances
If you happen to live on these fine shores, the subject of scorching temperatures these past couple of weeks will no doubt have dominated every waking moment of your life. Quite possibly every attempted moment of sleep as well.
Buckingham Palace aides were quick to point out that our hardy King was not one to be sidetracked, even though the mercury launched to record levels.
Charles took part in three engagements on Tuesday, a meeting with the Afghan Women’s cricket team, a visit to a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu academy and fittingly, a Palace reception for climate change campaigners. Quite the day by anyone’s standards.
Yet, the issue that will garner most attention this week will be the publication for the first time of the King’s tax payment. There are many days in the royal calendar us royal correspondents delight in attending. Coronations, Trooping the Colour, garden parties, royal tours, to name just a few.
The annual Sovereign Grant royal briefing is generally not one of them. With hundreds of pages of financial reports, minute details on the operations of the royal family’s operations, the business affairs of Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall laid out, it is a gargantuan effort for all the journalists poring through the detail on behalf of our readers, viewers and the general public.
Following on from his position as Prince of Wales, and in charge of the Duchy of Cornwall, Charles voluntarily released payments made to the Treasury which stood around £4-6million per year.
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Controversially, Prince William chose not to repeat this practice when he inherited the title and the Duchy on his father’s accession. But now the time has come for him to state his tax affairs to the public on account of the King’s release and this year becoming the first monarch in history to do so.
The decision to be so open has raised two points. On one hand we can see the millions paid by the King and his heir to the public coffers, which the late Queen Elizabeth II only started contributing in 1993 – more than 40 years into her reign.
On the other, considering the sums involved and the immense disparity of wealth in the world today, should we demand to know more about the royal family’s financial affairs.
The topic of whether the monarchy delivers value for money is and always will be hotly disputed. In one sense, the 12% it receives back from the Treasury on account of the Crown Estate’s huge profits represents a small amount of the total sum.
On the flip side, should a billionaire King and his now incredibly independently wealthy son be taking any money from the public purse when they have so much at their disposal?
Having followed the public work and lives of the royal family for nearly a decade, I can speak of the work they carry out. The hundreds of engagements at home and abroad, the reliance on the Government of the day on them – just look at the tariffs deal for Scottish whisky signed by US President Donald Trump as a result of the King and Queen’s State Visit in April, reportedly worth £4million a week to the industry. The true cost or benefit of soft diplomacy is perhaps unquantifiable.
In preparation for this historic announcement, Buckingham Palace stated the King’s position was thus: “To put it simply: we continue to modernise and evolve.”
Regardless of the questions over finances, suitability and need for our royals, their longevity will perhaps be judged on the institution’s ability to increase transparency in an age where expectations of an ancient institution must fit with the values of the time.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
