Prince William's Duchy of Cornwall and King Charles' Duchy of Lancaster profits explained

became the owner of the £1.3 billion Duchy of Cornwall when died and it provides him with a private income of more than £20m every year.

At the same time,inherited the £830m Duchy of Lancaster from his mother.

The two estates are exempt from a string of taxes, including capital gains , corporation tax and inheritance tax.

Our investigation with Dispatches reveals the commercial profits from the two estates.

The Duchy of Cornwall’s commercial revenue has grown 115% since 2011 to nearly £21m and is now more than half of its revenue.

It pays no capital gains tax, which this week raised to at least 24%, because it says that “the vast majority of its property holdings are held for the long term as core holdings” and all capital gains from property sales are reinvested.

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During the decade from 2010 to 2020 it made on average £3.3m a year from selling property. But during the last four years this rose to £44m - or more than £11m a year.

It recently made more than £30m profit selling a warehouse in Milton Keynes it had only bought a few years previously.

Deals like this have helped the total value of the Duchy soar to nearly £1.3 billion, up 73%, or nearly twice the rate of inflation.

Baroness Margaret Hodge, former chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “When you actually look at the activity that takes place in these duchies, a lot of them as property transactions, huge property portfolios.

“I think there is a wrong commercial advantage to the Duchy of Cornwall and to the Duchy of Lancaster in that they don’t pay the taxes.”

The 700-year-old estate was established by Edward III in 1337 to provide financial independence to his son and heir. A charter ruled that each future Duke of Cornwall would be the eldest surviving son of the monarch and the heir to the throne.

“voluntarily” pays income on the surplus profits he receives from the Duchy. The Duchy says: “This is not a requirement but something His Royal Highness chooses to do voluntarily. “

Last year, he received nearly £24m from the Duchy, income that “is used to fund the public, charitable and private activities of The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall”.

will become the 26th Duke but if he has no son then he keeps the Duchy when he becomes king.

This last happened in 1936, when the late Queen’s father King George VI was crowned and he had only two daughters. Queen Elizabeth never owned the Duchy of Cornwall and it passed to her son Charles when King George VI died in 2022.

A Duchy of Cornwall spokesperson said: “The Duchy of Cornwall is a private estate with a commercial imperative which we achieve alongside our commitment to restoring the natural environment and generating positive social impact for our communities.”