How did King Charles III secretly profit from the assets of deceased people?

Photo: BGNES/ERA

The king profited from the deaths of thousands of people in north-west England, whose assets were secretly used to bolster a real estate empire run by his estate, the Guardian writes.

The Duchy of Lancaster, a controversial land and property estate that generated huge profits for King Charles III, has collected tens of millions of pounds in recent years under an antiquated system dating back to feudal times.

The Duchy collects financial assets, known as bona vacantia, owned by people who have died without a will or known next of kin. Over the past 10 years it has raised more than £60m of these funds. It has long been argued that, after deducting expenses, the proceeds of bona vacantia are donated to charities.

In fact, only a small percentage of this revenue is given to charity. Internal duchy documents seen by the newspaper reveal how the funds are secretly being used to finance renovations to properties that are owned by the king and are rented out for profit.

Essentially, the Duchy inherited funds bona vacantia from people whose last known address was in the territory that was known in the Middle Ages as Lancashire County Palatine and was ruled by a duke. Today the area includes Lancashire and parts of Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Cumbria.

A 2020 insider leak from the duchy gave royal estate officials license to use bona vacantia funds for a wide range of its profit-making portfolio. A document codenamed “SA9” confirmed that spending the money in this way could lead to an “incidental” benefit to the king’s personal income.

Properties named in other leaked documents as eligible for the funds include townhouses, holiday homes, country cottages, farm buildings, a former petrol station and barns, including one used to host pheasant and partridge shoots in Yorkshire.

Property improvements include new roofs, double glazed windows, boiler installations and replacement doors and skylights. One of the documents mentions the renovation of an old farmhouse in Yorkshire, helping to turn it into a high-end home. Another redevelopment turns an agricultural building into commercial offices.

Three sources familiar with the duchy’s spending confirmed that it is using the proceeds collected from deceased citizens to renovate its profitable property portfolio, making significant savings. One of them said Duchy insiders view the bona vacantia spending, which has not been publicly disclosed until now, as something akin to “free money” and a “sprinkling fund”.

The diversion of bona vacantia funds thus proved a financial advantage to the king’s estate. The practice helps increase the profitability of rental properties, which indirectly benefits the king, who receives tens of millions each year from the dukedom’s profits – income which Buckingham Palace says is “personal”. Earlier this year, in his first annual payment since inheriting from his mother, the king received £26m from the Duchy of Lancaster./BGNES