Charles III fell under unpleasant suspicions: he secretly benefited from the money of dead Englishmen

The British publication The Guardian accused Charles III of using people’s savings.

Photo: GLOBAL LOOK PRESS

The British publication The Guardian accused Charles III of using the savings of people who did not leave a will after their death or had no heirs for the restoration and renovation of their own properties. We are talking about residents of the northwest of Great Britain.

The roots of this scandal are deeply rooted in history and relate to the concept of the Duchy of Lancaster. It includes all real estate owned by the British Crown. This combination of land and buildings appeared in 1399, during the feudal era. The Duchy owns many properties and parks in the counties of Lancashire, Staffordshire, Yorkshire, Cheshire and other areas of northern England and Wales. The duchy’s income (the rental of farmland and historic properties) is reportedly around £20 million.

However, there is one rule that has been in force since the Middle Ages in the northwest of England, particularly in the County of Palatine: the property of unmarried residents registered there passed to the crown upon their death. These assets were called bona vacantia. This tradition has survived to this day. Over the last 10 years, the Duchy of Lancaster has raised more than £60 million in bona vacantia. The Duchy’s office claimed that the majority of these funds go to charities, but The Guardian journalists denied this.

Internal duchy documents, seen by The Guardian, showed that the seized funds are secretly used to finance renovations of properties the king owns and rents. In these cabins and agricultural buildings, the roof, windows, doors were changed and boilers were installed. Some buildings were completely renovated, turning them into luxury properties or office spaces. Paradoxically, the assets transferred to the duchy previously belonged to the English who lived in the territories of the previously existing County of Palatine. Today this area includes Lancashire, parts of Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Cumbria.

The use of bona vacantia funds to improve the royal estate increased the profitability of its rental. This year, as his first annual payment since his succession, Charles III received £26 million from the Duchy of Lancaster.

Friends of those whose property passed to the crown were astonished at this information. They called the practice unethical and disgusting. Buckingham Palace, for its part, declined to comment.