For the past few years, there have been many lowkey stories about the Windsors’ various charities, foundations and schemes. I tend to believe that Prince Charles’ signature foundation, The Prince’s Trust, is mostly above-board. My guess is that they waste money on unneeded staffing and that’s probably the biggest thing we could complain about. The Prince’s Trust brings in so much money and Charles really does use it as an umbrella for so many real charitable projects. But then… *insert sad clown noise* there are royal foundations like the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s, which seems to actively divert money away from legitimate charities, and refuse to fund Will & Kate’s struggling patronages. And there’s Prince Andrew’s charity, the funds of which were used to pay off a former employee, Amanda Thirsk.
I really thought that the Cambridges and Prince Andrew had all of the “royal foundation drama” in the Windsor clan. But no. What’s this about the Earl and Countess of Wessex, aka Edward and Sophie? From Gert’s Royals:
@RoyalFamily & @ClarenceHouse usually published their annual report at the end of June, which will reflect the April 1st, 2019-March 31st 2020 financial year. We usually see the Duchy of Cornwall, Royal Foundation, etc. publish their annual reports around then too.
The Earl and Countess of Wessex Charitable Trust will not be publishing an annual reports for the 3rd year in a row, as they received only £770 in income this year ($960 USD or 860 Euro). And had expenses of £154,431.
To clarify, the Wessexes didn’t do any fundraising last year for their foundation. & the expenses [were] grants to charities, that were paid from the foundation’s reserves.
The foundation was set up ahead of the couple’s wedding 20 years ago.
The Earl & Countess of Wessex Charitiable Trust is currently in its own transition. The trust’s name was changed last year from The Wessex Youth Trust, back to the Trust’s old name. The Trust’s website was shutdown last year. & the offices moved from Norwich to London.
I don’t understand how you can be royal, have a royal foundation, and NOT fundraise for it and just sit on a stockpile of reserve cash for years which you then parcel out to other charities. I mean, I get the parceling out to charities thing – that makes sense, and it’s the best use of a foundation, in my opinion. Instead of incurring costs for endless foundation staffing, just use the money raised to hand out to good charities, and keep your foundation lean, with limited staff. But I don’t understand how the Wessexes are just NOT raising money at all? All of these foundations could use a good audit. Start with Andrew, then go to Will and Kate, and then get the receipts on Sophie and Edward.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN.
Do they even need a foundation? Does Anne have a foundation? Seems like they should just shut it down if they aren’t going to, or can’t, fundraise for it.
And where do these ‘reserves come from’?
The endowment. All foundations have one.
This could be a good thing. If they started a Foundation with wedding money/gifts, perhaps it’s earning enough interest to pay out grants. Then they could run it like a Family Trust and put their efforts towards PR for various patronages by holding events and drawing attention to them. But if they’re just coasting along, not doing anything, that’s another story.
I really think Meghan messed them all up with her American approach to philanthropy – treat is like a business, expect professional staff, set goals and project deadlines. The BRF is used to showing up, waving and heading back to their castles. Only Charles was considered the oddball bc he’s genuinely interested in organic farming and climate.
*Endowment = long term savings, invested to earn interest. Every college/university (private schools too) and foundation has them. Often, however, money is earmarked for specific purposes so it can be limiting.
It’s starting to make a lot of sense why Harry and Meghan wanted to completely distance themselves from the “royal” model of charity which is clearly not working.
So much for the “workhorses” of the family.
Thank goodness Harry inherited Charles charity skills and Diana’s heart.
Yeah to be fair to Charles, the Princes Trust is considered legitimate and has helped a lot of people.
@Ali. 👏👏👏👏👏
Absolutely. Charles clearly has shown a willingness to evolve and adapt his idea of what charity means. It has served him well and will leave a lasting impact.
The rest of the lot should really examine what they are good for. If as royals, they couldn’t find enough rich people to donate as an advantage on their tax returns, there really is no point in them existing or receiving any benefits.
Yup!
Let the Karens fight.
LOL – 👏👏👏
Offices moved to London 👀
Why is that weird? Genuine question – do you think it means something.
It costs a LOT more to rent office space in London than in Norwich.
There’s also been a lot of talk about how Sophie is more than ready to take over from H&M and how she’s a much better “fit”… so the move to London just intrigued me because it seems like everything is falling according to their “plan”
Maybe I’m reading too much into it and they’re just consolidating Smaller royal offices To London? But nothing is ever straight forward/simple with this lot.
@Love, the Wessexes were supposed to get the axe once Charles became the monarch and he implemented his plans for a “slimmed down” monarchy, which was basically just an outsize attempt to get rid of Andrew without rousing suspicion.
And then Andrew blew it all up himself, so now the BRF has an easy excuse to keep him out without having to get rid of Anne, Edward and Sophie all at once.
Now with Meghan gone, there’s even more of a need that Charles’ siblings and the extended Windsor family has to stay on and keep up with their public role. Which is all the better because the Wessexs were rumoured to be unhappy about Charles’ impending plans and the arrangement and what that would mean for their finances/housing situation.
I assume this meant to Buckingham Palace where they already have offices.
Weren’t there rumors that the Wessexes were estranged?
the audit fees will be more than the income and another draw on the reserves. useless and work shy the whole lot of them.
i believe the family only want charles’ and williams’ foundations to be the more successful ones because no one should outshine the future king and the future future king. all others must dim their shine.
meghan saw this for the farce that it is and no one wants to change their cushy lifestyle.
I can’t wait for the annual report for the Cambridges foundation.
It will be ugly.
I doubt they are going to release it.
They release it every year and it is never ugly. It is legit foundation.
@Mac —— last year; it was all the Sussexes raising funds; almost nothing for W&K pathetic attempts at doing anything! this year, they will still mention the Together Cookbook and Endeavor Funds. I realized (I admit I wasn’t paying attention) that >60% of the royal foundation projects were Harry’s………..with the FFK as a co-founder? yes I am not counting Kate because she is of very little use.
All Meghan’s projects are self-sustained projects……..anyway the RF wanted W&K way of royaling; I guess the world is all good now!!!
Mac glosses over last year’s report. It was not pretty.
@Mac ugly
All I’ve seen of Sophie is going to random developing countries and talk about ‘our commonwealth family’ and that’s it. She gets embiggened as some kind of humble worker and yet this is so shady.
I always donate to grassroot causes and orgs and I always look up at who actually on the executive board and run these charities.
There was a movement in the UK called ‘Charity So White’ which highlighted how the charity sector here was run by very entitled people who actually had very little interest or genuine understanding of the communities they were ‘championing’ and really just wanted an MBE/OBE.
And I also love how this has gotten completely looked over by the same RRs who are analysing the Sussexes’ finances.
@Ruby_Woo, I do not see Sophie’s foreign tours as shady. Overseas tours are orchestrated by the UK Foreign Office.
At least Sophie is out doing something which puts her at least one up on Karen Kensington. Has Cathy ever taken on a foreign tour to a developing country by herself.
@BayTampaBay — I don’t think they are ever going to let Kate go alone by herself…….can you imagine the embarrassment? the woman can’t give a speech to save her life! she is much better at taking pictures with children and she makes cute babies; that should be good enough for her
I believe Kate did do a solo trip once to the Netherlands. But it was very short and I don’t believe there were a ton of events. I’m not even sure if Maxima was even present for it. In other words, Kate had to show up and shake hands with King Willem Alexander, walk around and look at some objects, and that was about it. Clearly, they gave her what they thought she could handle.
Kate went to see the Girl with a Pearl Earring painting in Amsterdam and that was about all she did. The RR tried to act like it meant something but she still doesn’t even do what other royals have been doing for years. And that’s not a high bar, but Kate can’t meet it.
Ruby Woo
“Random developing countries”? Hmmmmm
Have they released the Sovereign Grant/ Royal expenses report for this yet? The one that caused a stir last year because it detailed the Frogmore renovations.
Meanwhile, Sentabale rose to 4 million after Harry and Meghan wed. Harry has always been good at fundraising for his charities.
“My guess is that they waste money on unneeded staffing and that’s probably the biggest thing we could complain about.”
The reason Charles has high staff cost for The Prince’s Trust is because he employs highly professional fundraisers with a proven track record and day-to-day charity administrators that came from the private sector. This type of personnel is expensive but effective. The success of The Prince’s Trust demonstrates Charles made the right personnel choices.
The purpose of foundations is not to dole out money. It is to work collaboratively with organizations to fund specific programmatic work. This ensures grants are spent to advance positive change.
The Royal Family is more and more a mess
I admit I don’t fully understand how these foundations work – are the royals supposed to have fundraising dinners and the like, or is more private contacts and meetings etc. Charles seems to have the fundraising down pat, and Harry and Meghan seem to have figured it out as well, but what about the other ones?
Perhaps W&K are fundraising but the funds are not going to the charities, maybe W&K are being paid salaries themselves? Or funding the in-laws failed business.
I don’t see why there isn’t a report on how the Wessex foundation is spending the money regardless of the lack of fundraising.
Interesting that the Duchess of York has launched yet another charitable foundation, this one entitled Sarah’s Trust.
The word “Trust” within a country mile of the name Sarah Ferguson is some top level irony.
Oh good grief. Nothing this woman has done has been on the up and up. This is just going to be her attempt at a pay-to-play arrangement but thankfully nobody wants to play with her and with Andrew getting phased out, her access to anything Royal-adjacent is narrowing.
It should be called the “I can’t get loans from a dead pedo so please send me money directly” trust.
Only £770 in income for the past few years????? How do they expect this couple to replace H&M?
I thought that was for last year, the two years before seems to be as dismal.
I guess because there is no chance they will outshine the Dolittle’s.
My guess is the Wessex’s are winding down their own Foundation because they anticipate they will shortly have no need for it. The Earl of Wessex is currently working with the Duke of Edinburgh’s very successful foundation now that his father is retired and it has been stated for years that would be his goal moving forward. As for his wife Sophie, she works with several charitable organizations that focus on eye health and blindness.
I know scandals are a lot more fun but I think this is more a case that they are transitioning for the inevitable regime change as the Earl’s parents age.
Earl of Wessex is no great shakes at running businesses.
Sophie business was close to bankrupt when she left.
If they are winding down, it would make more sense to put out a press release or something. Just letting it peter out like this makes them look either shady, like Sarah and Andrew, or like they can’t raise money at all and aren’t worth the investment in the RF, which isn’t a good look right now. None of these people in the RF seem to be able to understand optics worth a damn.
I really don’t understand how these foundations work, apart from being busy work for the Royals. That would actually make sense if it’s true, but do the Wessex’s have the interest and ability to do that? They are just so blank, apart from a Sophie being rude at CW service and Edward cutting a cake with a sword. Guess they can keep chugging along.
Are they phasing out to get ready to take over the Duke of Edinburgh’s since Edward will eventually have the title bestowed? Ending active fundraising and dispersing funds? Especially if they seem to have closed up shop. (Edit: saw that Juliane and I had the same thought 🙂 )
But this is the third year. I understand his parents are old but it seems like not releasing it for a third straight year isn’t because they are winding down and raises questions
It is important to differentiate between foundations and charitable organizations. Foundations are set up to manage an endowment (can come from donations, an inheritance, a one time grant from the creator…) in such a way that it earns interest income. The principal remains in the endowment, and each foundation will have a different formula for which portions of the income are allocated out as grants each year. Depending on the jurisdiction, there may be established limits to how much must be allocated. Foundation funding is generally one-time, meant to augment not be the sole source of funding for a charitable organization. Many fundraise, but many do not. Charitable organizations, on the other hand, deliver programs directly through fundraising, government and foundation grants. There is nothing specifically “shady” about not raising funds each year or choosing not to allocate grants in a given year in order to further build up the endowment.
@Canadian – Thank you for your detailed and thorough, but easy to understand, description of foundations and what they do.
I’m going with the theory that the foundation was created to receive weddings gifts and those funds plus earnings comprise the reserve. Maybe the small income reported this year was also from gifts. They may never have intended to do further fundraising. The structure seems inefficient and the reporting misleading. The report should make clear that it covers reserves and earnings and the grants issued, with no additional funds expected or sought.
They’re financially unstable even with spoiled eddie getting lods of money from his mummy, they’re still not able to make their foundation sustainable. If you look at past reports at one point they barely raised 200k!!! Unknown civilians raise that much without the pr these people have. No wonder sophie’s patronages are closing. Its intresting how both bitter fools KeenKueen kate and snobbish sophie have that in common
Just FYI, The Prince’s Trust isn’t run by Charles – he’s the President, but definitely not involved in the day to day running or on the Executive Board. He’s about as involved as the other trustees.
It’s also very definitely a registered charity – so accounts and annual reports submitted annually and available publicly. @Canadian very correctly pointed out the differences between Foundations and Charitable Orgs – thank you! 🙂
Important to note with TPT is that it directly runs programmes that work with young people to get them in to employment and interventions to reduce the risk of them becoming NEET. There was actually a big staffing restructure over the last few years, it’s still a big national charity but it’s definitely leaner than it was. There’s about 1,200 staff (about 900 of which are in Operations as youth workers and Ops Managers) and more than 60,000 young people supported each year.
The British people want a monarchy based on blood relations and nothing else – not intelligence, or education, or competence, etc. So this is what they get. I don’t know why anyone is upset by it.
I was coming to say more or less the same thing, @Mrs.K. Some people are born to do this kind of work, blessed with that rare mix of passion and aptitude and charisma. Some people are born to (or marry) Royalty. That Venn diagram has a teeny tiny area of convergence that Meghan happened to fall into, pulling Harry along with her. (Harry may have eventually gotten there himself, but IMO she brought the savviness and creativity.)
Despite H&M’s really perfect fit for the role, I’ve never understood the expectation that the offspring and in-laws of a monarch devote their lives to public service simply because they were born into a family or decided to marry someone. Not everybody is good at it. Why should lesser royals be forced into a role they may not be suited for?
(To be clear: I also don’t think a person’s lifestyle should be publicly funded just because of who they were born to or chose to marry. I get that there’s a sticking point in that implicit social contact. If the BRF were bright (which they are decidedly not) they would hire talented managers to run their foundations and PR people to tell them when/where to appear once in awhile and wave. They could take credit for being so magnanimous, and otherwise live quietly.)
@candykat The expectation of public service is noblesse oblige it’s as old as the Iliad but r the royals it’s raisin d’etre w/ o it the would have been drummed out a long time ago