Prince Charles faces MP’s ire over Duchy estate |
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Sun, 31 Jul 2005 17:05
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LONDON: The Public Accounts Committee, which had been involved in auditing the Prince of Wales’ Duchy estate, has said that the Prince should have a lesser role and no direct involvement in the day-to-day affairs of the estate's management.
Conservative MP Edward Leigh, the chairman of the PAC came down heavily on Prince Charles and said, "Our work has revealed obscurities and potential conflicts of interest in the management and governance of the Duchies accounts. I cannot understand why these accounts are not subject to the same disclosure requirements as other accounts presented to Parliament." It must be recalled that the figures for the estate which were released last month had been very favorable to the Prince what with a £13.2 million revenue in the last year. This amount was almost double the £6.9 million that the estate had generated in 1999. Analysts say that it is mainly the Labor MP's who are gunning for Charles.
The Prince has managed the estate with a firm hand and has turned it into a success. The organic wing called Duchy Originals nets the estate a minimum of £1 million a year, all of which is disbursed to the Prince's favorite charities. "The duchy is a success story which should be praised, not criticized," said one analyst requesting anonymity. He argued that the MP's would have criticized Charles if the estate had failed, but now that it's running like a well oiled machine, they are crying foul that it is too profitable. This was blatant double standard, he said.
Meanwhile, Sir Michael Peat, the Prince's private secretary has accused the PAC of being hopelessly biased, "They (the duchies) are well-run private estates specifically created to provide incomes for the sovereign and the heir to the throne," he claimed. It has also emerged that Prince William, the heir to Prince Charles estate is firmly behind his father on this matter and is going to have a lengthy talk with his father on the issue, "The Prince of Wales not only wants the Duchy of Cornwall to be passed on to Prince William in a sound condition, but also that it continues to be run in the same way that it successfully operates today. Prince William is keen on that too: he is backing his father all the way on this issue," a senior aide at Clarence House said on Saturday.
The Prince is expected to respond to the PAC's recommendations in October.
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