Income

Income

Summary of The Prince of Wales's income

All the private and the large majority of the official and charitable activities of The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall are funded by The Prince’s annual private income from The Duchy of Cornwall estate.

Since it was established in 1337 by Edward III for his eldest son Prince Edward, the Duchy's main purpose has been to provide an income for the Heir to the Throne.  Under the 1337 charter, and as confirmed by subsequent legislation, The Prince of Wales is not entitled to the proceeds or profit on the sale of the Duchy’s capital assets, but only to its annual income.

Today, the estate consists of around 54,521 hectares of land in 23 counties, mostly in the South-West of England, and includes agricultural, residential and commercial property holdings. It also has a financial investment portfolio.

The Prince of Wales chooses to use the majority of his after-tax income from the Duchy to meet the cost of his public and charitable work.  In addition, each year he helps raise, directly or indirectly, around £122 million for his core 20 charities.

The Prince pays tax on his Duchy income, after the normal deductions for business expenses, at the 40 per cent rate. Like any other tax-payer, his tax return is subject to review by the Inland Revenue. In 2007-08, The Prince’s income from the Duchy was £16.3 million and £12.8 million after tax (including VAT).

Although it is a private estate, because of the importance of the beneficiary the Duchy’s ‘trust provisions’ have, over the years, been set out in legislation, with the financial security of the Duchy overseen by HM Treasury acts in effect, on the trustee to ensure that the Duchy’s capital assets are properly maintained for future generations.

While The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall do not receive money from the Civil List (the money provided by Parliament from the income from the Crown Estate to meet the official expenses of The Queen's Household so that Her Majesty can fulfil her role as Head of State and Head of the Commonwealth), the Grants-In-Aid paid to The Queen’s Household are used, in part, to support their official working activities.

Grants-in-Aid cover three areas: travel by air and rail on official business, the upkeep of Royal palaces, and communications. Government departments also meet directly some other costs incurred by Their Royal Highnesses in their work to support The Queen as Head of State, including the provision of staff on secondment from the Armed Services, some costs of official overseas visits, and the cost of police security.

Details of The Prince of Wales’s income and expenditure are published every year in The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall’s Annual Review.

Princes William and Harry receive income from the army, from the trust established on the death of their mother and from their father’s Duchy income.