King Charles 'made £1m at taxpayers' expense' by selling land for scrapped HS2 leg
King Charles made more than £1 million at taxpayers' expense by selling land for the cancelled leg of the HS2 railway, it has been reported.
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The Duchy of Lancaster, the King's private property portfolio, negotiated payments for up to £1,132,400 by selling land for road works near a proposed hub station in Crewe between 2012 and 2017.
Crewe was intended to be the end of the new high-speed railway to increase capacity and cut journey times between Manchester and London.
The Duchy, under the control of Queen Elizabeth II, sold the lands which had been within the grounds of Crewe Hall, a sprawling 1,400 hectare estate acquired by the crown in 1936.
The organisation was free to negotiate over the sale due to the Duchy of Lancaster being exempt from compulsory purchase laws under which vast swathes of land for HS2 were acquired.
The Duchy of Lancaster was inherited by King Charles upon Queen Elizabeth II's death in 2022 - and he did not pay inheritance tax on the estate worth more than £600million.
The monarch's portfolio is also not subject to capital gains tax (CGT) and corporation tax due to its status as a 'crown body' though he does pay voluntary income tax on some of the profits.
The revelations are set to spark questions about the property empire's special status - given its benefitting from the public purse.
It will be increasingly controversial because the sales were made for the cancelled northern leg of HS2 which was supposed to connect Crewe to London Euston in under an hour.
A spokesperson for the Duchy of Lancaster told the Guardian: “As with any landowner, the acquisition and disposal of property assets forms part of routine activities.
“We wouldn’t comment on individual transactions, but any such payments would be invested back into the Duchy estate rather than as distributable income to the Monarch.
“The Duchy of Lancaster estate is not incorporated and therefore not subject to corporation tax. However, The king voluntarily pays income tax on income from the Duchy of Lancaster.
“A decision by the Duchy Council on charity rents has been reached and any changes will be announced in due course.”
LBC has contacted the Duchy for comment.
This is the latest controversy surrounding the land holdings of the Royal Family.
An investigation last November into the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall controlled by Prince William found the estates had secured rental agreements worth millions of pounds with the armed forces, the NHS and state schools.
It found the Duchy of Cornwall was set to earn around £600,000 over the lifetime of six different leases agreed with local state schools.
In response, Will Bax, the Duchy of Cornwall's new secretary and keeper of records said that grassroots groups - such as an orchard used for therapeutic gardening - would be able to have their rents waived for up to 50 per cent.
Mr Bax said: "It would be remiss not to address the media scrutiny the duchy has experienced this past year."We've used these challenges as an opportunity to stop and reflect both the duke and I are clear that we want the duchy to be world class in our approach to supporting people, communities and nature to flourish and to realise that aim, we must operate and communicate in a modern, socially minded way."