Why aren’t royal reporters covering King Charles’s profiteering from public services?

The British press is making a point of doing very little to amplify the Times and Channel 4’s investigation into the Duchy of Lancaster and Duchy of Cornwall. The duchies are “private” in the sense that King Charles and Prince William make tens of millions of pounds annually from them and the income is virtually tax-free. What the Times and Channel 4 revealed is that a huge chunk of the income comes from the duchies collecting millions in “rent” from public services, the military and charities. This should be a major story, headline news across Britain, right? While there has been some coverage in the major newspapers and tabloids, none of it has come from the royal rota, the reporters who are tasked with covering the Windsors full-time. Omid Scobie pointed this out last night:

As many of us have noted before, the royal reporters and commentators are stenographers to power. They are not independent journalists capable of speaking truth to power – they are merely the propaganda arm of the British royal mafia. Which is why – we’ve always said – when the rota is freaking out about something to do with the Sussexes, it’s because the rota has been directed to do just that by their real handlers, the Windsors. Meanwhile, the Mail’s non-royal reporters are the ones doing meaningful follow-up stories on the Times’ investigation:

The King is under pressure to refund the cash-strapped NHS after it emerged he is charging one trust at least £11.4million in rent to store a fleet of electric ambulances. An investigation found the private estates of both King Charles and Prince William make millions of pounds from the NHS, the Armed Forces and charities. Land and property owned by the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall is also rented out to schools, mining companies and big businesses, among others.

The investigation found the Duchy of Lancaster, on behalf of the King, has a deal with one London trust that will see the NHS pay more than £11million over 15 years for the right to park ambulances in one of its warehouses. Documents show the duchy is earning £830,000 a year from renting the two-storey warehouse to Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London.

Dennis Reed from campaign group for the elderly Silver Voices, told The Mail: ‘I think it is disgraceful actually, given the NHS is under so much pressure, for the Royal Family to charge for ambulance parking and other NHS uses. [It] sounds rather like a money-grabbing activity. And I would hope because of the publicity there will be a rethink in the Royal Household.’

The astonishing findings show: The Duchies have struck deals worth at least £50 million with public services such as the NHS, state schools and the Armed Forces; The Ministry of Justice is paying £37.5 million over 25 years to use Dartmoor prison, which is currently empty because of radon gas; Charles and William have made at least £22 million in rent from charities over 19 years – sometimes while serving as their patrons; Homes rented out by the royal estates fail government energy efficiency standards and leave tenants struggling with mould; Prince William, who tomorrow heads to South Africa for his eco Earthshot Prize, has allowed controversial mining companies to drill on Duchy of Cornwall land.

[From The Daily Mail]

Yeah, Charles should absolutely refund the money to the NHS. But it’s more than that – there should be a real audit of the duchies AND all of the royal accounts, including the Crown Estate. These are threads which need be explored and investigated fully, especially considering that much of this bullsh-t is based on land grabs from the 14th century. It’s insane.


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Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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39 Responses to “Why aren’t royal reporters covering King Charles’s profiteering from public services?”

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  1. yipyip says:

    This is so bad.
    Charles should be forced or shamed into paying back that money.
    Charging the NHS is disgusting!

    • ArtHistorian says:

      Charging the charities they are patrons of is both disgusting and hypocritical.

    • Waitwhat says:

      I wanna see the exact same heat and pressure to pay it back that we saw for Harry and Megan repay the renovation costs of their RENTED home that was then taken away from them.

    • Nano says:

      And on top of that they getcivil list money. Wtf! They shouldn’t be allowed to double dip like this. The monarchy is only there until a referendum from the people vote them out. They should remember that and the fact that they’re not well liked like the rota wants everyone to believe.

  2. The royal reporters are in bed with the royal mafia and are awaiting orders from their overlords on how or what to spin. You would think one just one of them would look at this as a golden opportunity for them to separate from the pack and do what is right and spill all the beans and investigate.

    • Swaz says:

      Yes they are, their job is to spread Royal propaganda.

    • Magdalena says:

      Well, Harry did describe them as “a PR arm of the royal family” in the Netflix series when one of their aides “I don’t understand, what’s a royal expert? You mean anyone can call themself a royal expert?”

      And he was not wrong. They keep claiming to cover the royals “without fear or favour” whenever they are criticised for lying about the Sussexes, yet here is a story which BEGS for LOTS of articles and months of headlines and television breakfast discussions and radio phone-ins and…. silence from them while they indignantly screech that they are “journalists” to anyone who points out their hypocrisy and venality.

  3. Amy Bee says:

    Not surprising that they royal rota is not reporting this. It makes their claims that intruding into Harry and Meghan’s life was of public interest hollow when they refuse to even ask William a question about the Duchy.

  4. M3 says:

    What else is new? This is the monarchy. They have been profiteering off the people since the dawn of time.

  5. Lisa says:

    All these years I’ve been coming to this site, do you really need to ask?

  6. ML says:

    Expect this to become a bigger issue due to KC charging the NHS. In rural areas, ambulances take forever to reach patients, there’s a shortage of medicines, waiting lists, and huge waits for operations. Taking money away from healthcare post Brexit is not going to endear KC to his people.

  7. GoodWitchGlenda says:

    A monarchy is 2024 is so embarrassing as is, this just adds insult to injury.

    Come on Brits, get these parasites’ boots off your neck!

  8. Anonymous says:

    Of course the Royal Rota won’t cover this. They specialise in gossip and speculation and not facts.

  9. Becks1 says:

    I don’t expect the rota to cover this.

    but as we’ve said before, the 3-prong-approach here means its really hard for the royals to hide from the criticism. If someone doesn’t read the times they may read the Mirror. Dispatches means there are clips that are circulating on social media, especially TikTok.

    I like the three prong approach not just for that but because I think it separates out the issue of the government paying millions to the duchies and things like “Charles charging every time a piece of cargo moves through his airspace” and the horrible conditions of the Duchy of Cornwall rentals. There are a lot of moving parts here and I think having the multiple coverage means there is more attention paid to each piece.

    I’ve noticed there is a HUGE emphasis on Charles and William’s military roles when talking about how they charge the MoD, and there is also a big emphasis on their supposed environmentalism, with the mining, the horrible heating conditions, etc.

    The RRs aren’t covering this but the story is gaining steam just the same – even People had a piece about it. And the palace bot response of “they’re landlords, this has been known, what did you expect” isn’t landing well because I think a lot of people just assumed they rented out land and buildings to private companies. I certainly didn’t expect to read that Charles charged for AIRSPACE at a cargo port.

    • ArtHistorian says:

      Charging for crossing an imaginary line in AIRSPACE is just absurd greed. These people are completely shameless.

    • Eurydice says:

      Maybe not just the RR. I read the BBC online, so I don’t know about TV coverage, but there’s only been one article online about this so far – that was when the story broke 3 days ago.

      • Magdalena says:

        Eurydice, I looked on the BBCs website a couple of days ago and there was NOTHING. And when I searched for “Duchy of Cornwall” I found articles from 2023 and earlier, mostly flattering to William. The BBC is less than a shadow of what it used to be. No longer a trusted news source or a beacon of integrity.

  10. Jais says:

    Next time the rota or anyone in the BM wanna say something about the sussexes making money. Whether it be from jam or Netflix, I just wana be like Dispatches! Remember Dispatches.

  11. aquarius64 says:

    The rota is not touching this story not only because they don’t want to lose their access to BP and KP, the rota reporters don’t have the chops to do serious journalism. They are glorified trolls who are journalism school rejects.

    • LauraD says:

      @aquarius64 – Yes but, access to what? Even when taking into consideration KCIII and Kate’s illnesses there hasn’t been much for them to report on. Camilla does next to nothing and William even less. The only stories coming from KP and BP these days are a re-hash of the Oprah interview or Spare.

    • sevenblue says:

      Didn’t one of them make a story about H&M’s water usage in California and called some government agencies to make sure they don’t water their lawn over the allowed limit? They can do all the investigative work when they want to create a story about H&M. They don’t write about this because they don’t want to lose their access to the palace yet.

  12. Brassy Rebel says:

    Here in the US we hope to rid ourselves of Trump forever. Meanwhile, you poor souls in the UK are seemingly stuck with this horrible family forever. Sending my condolences.

    • Jane says:

      Yes, they are a corrupt family and I wish we could vote them out. They wear their poppies showing support for the veterans then charge the Ministry of Defence for the privilege of training on their land (fighting for King and Country). Kings and Queens should be consigned to history books and fairytales. They are never held to account over anything and the press fawn over them, it’s pathetic

  13. Swaz says:

    The gloss is gone for the Windsors 😈 a great majority of the public will never see them the same way again 😈

  14. Louise177 says:

    It’s laughable and pathetic that the Rota can talk about a dress and fantom house for weeks that has nothing to do with anyone. But not a single article about working Royals that directly affects the people they serve.

  15. Hypocrisy says:

    This may get brushed under the carpet by the rota and tabloids but it’s out there now and it isn’t going away… people actually watched this documentary.

  16. lanne says:

    The rota ratchets see themselves, fundamentally, as gate keepers to the royal establishment. They desperately want validation from their “betters,” so they toe the company line so they can remain adjacent to royalty. Proximity to royalty gives them status–they can brag about getting invited into the palace to eat stale cookies once a year, or getting to ride in the back of a royal plane on a royal tour. This is the only status these ghouls are likely to get, and they covet it like treasure. If the royals go down, they are out of a job. Even more important, as gatekeepers, they believe they get to decide who’s allowed in and who’s to be shunned by royal power. They believe that this gatekeeping gives them power–they have the power to deny access to the hallowed halls to anyone they deem unworthy (or un-white). Their job is to protect the hierachy of social class, even though they will never benefit from it themselves. That’s why the worst thing anyone can do, worse than crime, worse than murder, is rise above their station in a way the ratchets don’t sanction. They wanted Meghan to be ended for it.

    So they will do nothing that upsets their overloards. That would require an entire change in world view that would shatter that festering pile of fossils.

  17. Nano says:

    And they also getcivil list money. WTF? They forget that a referendum vote by the people can get rid of them. They’re not even well liked even tho the rota wants to pretend they are. The monarchy went to hell after QEII died.

  18. Lau says:

    The NHS point is really what’s getting me because this system has been crippled by more than a decade of Tory leadership and now we learn that the royal family instead of helping it has been taking money from it. Absolutely ridiculous and shameful.

  19. Liv says:

    My question is how and why do they still own all this land and property? Why hasn’t it been reverted to the government? If they are funded through the sovereign grant why do they need this much private income? Why do they still own these properties ? This is so archaic.

  20. Jane says:

    Please see this link to try to hold the Royal Family to account. https://www.republic.org.uk/half_billion_royals

  21. bisynaptic says:

    #DefundTheMonarchy