Since 2022, Prince William has been in charge of the Duchy of Cornwall, a vast and feudal real estate empire which profits from what are effectively poorly-managed slums and farms with narrow-to-no profit margins. The duchy also profits heavily from “renting” property to the National Health Service for things like “parking lots for ambulances.” And don’t forget about the poorly maintained prisons on duchy land, and the duchy-owned seabeds. William hasn’t really done much to transform the duchy since he’s taken charge. There are reports that he basically just gets text updates from the duchy team and those texts (which he arguably never reads because he can’t) count as “duchy stewardship.” Well, someone at the duchy got the bright idea to sell off some duchy farms to enrich William. And those farmers are appalled.
The Prince of Wales has been urged not to put “profits before people” when he sells land on a historic country estate as part of a shake-up of his private property portfolio. The Duchy of Cornwall, which belongs to Prince William, insists that the sale of ten farms on land it owns in Devon is a move to focus on other areas where there is greater “social and environmental need”.
However, the surprise announcement has left farmers and communities with connections to the Bradninch estate, which has been part of the heir’s private landed estate since its formation in 1337, fearing for their future. One tenant farmer said he would not be able to buy his farm without saddling his family with “generations of debt”.
“Having a landlord [in Prince William] who is supposedly that focused on mental health, the amount of stress and anxiety amongst the farmers and tenants is through the roof,” he said.
The town council said it was a “worrying time for many” and left residents questioning the future of duchy-owned community assets such as the wetlands, allotments and the football field. William has been criticised for failing to reveal the amount of tax he pays on profits from the £1 billion duchy estate, which spans 52,000 hectares in 19 counties. The duchy said the sale was part of a plan to be “more active in shaping the portfolio towards areas where we see the most significant social and environmental need, and therefore opportunity for impact, rather than just land ownership”. It said tenant farmers would be given first refusal to buy their farms at a “healthy discount to market rates”.
John Palmer, a retired surgeon who lives in Bradninch and beats for the farmers’ shoot, said the duchy had a “long history of conservation and good stewardship which will be lost if it is sold piecemeal to the highest bidders… The royal family are probably financially resilient enough to be able to make decisions in the round and not purely for financial gain, so one would hope that the current royal landlord is able to prioritise people over profit.”
Palmer, who helped establish the plastic and reconstructive surgery department at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, said: “This is enormously stressful for tenants and employees of the duchy estate. It is said that the tenants will have the first option of buying their farms, some of which have been in the same family for generations, but it will be difficult or impossible for duchy tenants to raise the necessary capital in these financially challenging times for British farmers.”
One tenant farmer said: “The duchy was always thought of as a responsible landlord, so this has come as such a shock. I think the old Prince of Wales [King Charles] was better, unfortunately the new one doesn’t have his father’s view of agriculture and everything else.”
The farmer said they were told last Thursday that the farms were for sale “and that was it”.
“About three weeks ago the duchy had one of its annual tenant meetings where they described the duchy and tenants as a family and said what a good position the duchy is in, with lots of money to invest,” he said. “Three weeks later and this news came as such a shock.”
Residential duchy tenants living in the small town of Bradninch said they had not been contacted about their futures and only learnt about the sale of the farmland from farmers. One residential tenant said: “I am distraught, the way they have behaved is appalling and yet Prince William is supposed to be concerned about homeless people and mental health. He has been causing sleepless nights since we heard about this. It’s not the duchy I knew when we first came to live here decades ago.”
“I think the old Prince of Wales [King Charles] was better, unfortunately the new one doesn’t have his father’s view of agriculture and everything else…” Ouch. It’s true though – Charles spent tons of time learning about agriculture and farming, and he was close to many farmers on duchy land. William… does not do any of that. William can’t even read his briefing memos. It’s really gross to just spring this on these farmers without duchy representatives going to this village and really talking to farmers individually. It’s the lack of care and respect, once again, from someone who tries to promote himself as a mental health advocate. A high-handed slumlord who is too much of a lazy coward to meet his feudal tenant farmers face-to-face to tell them that he’s selling their farms unless they go into crazy debt to “buy” them.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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