Windsor Castle
Buckingham palace
Sandringham
Kensington Palace
Do they belong to the Monarch, the Government or the State?
2006-08-21 03:46:53 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Government
Her Majesty's official residence in London is Buckingham Palace, but she also owns Balmoral Castle in Scotland and Sandringham House in Norfolk, which she inherited from her father.
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Parliamentary questions answered
20-06-2003
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Extracts from Hansard, 20th June 2003:
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what financial contribution (a) Her Majesty the Queen and (b) His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales is making to the redecoration and refurbishment of Clarence House. [115778]
Estelle Morris: The information requested is as follows:
(a) Her Majesty the Queen is not paying anything towards the redecoration of Clarence House; and (b) His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is paying £78,000 including VAT towards the decoration costs. In addition, he is paying about £1.6 million for the soft furnishings, including carpets, light fittings and curtains.
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When 'occupied', the palaces are financed by Grant-in-Aid, which is given by the taxpayer as essentially 'expenses' to cover costs, and when not in use, the taxpayer simply picks up the tab directly. Meanwhile, throughout this process, the Queen 'owns' these palaces 'on behalf' of the nation. Sounds like a fantastic deal for the Windsors - they get to choose when to take their pick of these prime bits of real estate, maintained almost entirely at public expense, free of any effective authorisation process. They are 'owned' by the monarch but she and her advisers recoil in horror when the asset value of these properties is added into any estimate of her and her family's wealth.
It's the very best of both worlds, and highlights the ridiculous situation which we, the public, as taxpayers, are willing to tolerate. The entire situation looks a little strange legally - if really 'owned' then the monarch would have title to the properties and would be able to dispose of these as they thought fit. Strictly speaking, this is forbidden by 1702 legislation, but despite this, in 2002, the Royal Household managed to get round this by use of a private Act of Parliament slipped through almost unnoticed shortly before Parliament rose for its summer break. This was camouflaged by the innocent-looking 'Land at Palace Avenue, Kensington (Acquisition of Freehold) Act', freeing up for sale a small strip of land valued at around £100,000. No doubts where the money was expected to go - as confirmed by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, not to the Exchequer - but directly to the Royal Household. Stricly speaking, if they can do it with a small strip of land, they could do it with something bigger.
It is 'ownership', but not as we now it - it is really looks more like a trust. But if that is the case, then a decision of a board of trustees would be needed to allocate property, for example, rather than the individual say-so of Mrs Windsor. When pressed on financial grounds, the royals always say they are holding these properties 'in trust' for us all, though we have to pay to enter a tiny part of them at very restricted times. The Royal Collection, which is actually called a trust, and has a board of trustees, would seem to fulfil all the essential criteria, though little of the works of art so held are available for our viewing pleasure, but the palaces seem to be a different matter.
This 'now we own it, now we don't', situation is little better than the notorious three-card trick - each time, we, the taxpayers, lose. The matter of legal ownership of royal palaces requires resoution. If not, it is hard to escape the conclusion that we are being forced to pay for the lavish lifestyle of the Windsor family based upon some very dubious legal presumptions - where are the title deeds, and who is raelly entitled to possess them, and if it's a trust, who are the trustees?
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2006-08-21 03:57:08 · answer #1 · answered by dianafpacker 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The Monarch
2006-08-21 03:56:53 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the monarch
2006-08-21 03:59:04 · answer #3 · answered by bunnyBoo 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the monarch
2006-08-21 03:53:53 · answer #4 · answered by madmim 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Queen says they are hers. I say they belong to the country. Who wins?
2006-08-21 03:52:35 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋