‘Useless’ wind farms generate £28m profit for Crown

Much-criticised energy source plays an important role in royal estate’s record profits of £328m

Hannah Furness

Rhiannon Bury

THE Duke of Edinburgh once described them as “absolutely useless”, while the Prince of Wales believed them a “horrendous blot on the landscape”. But wind farms have at least one useful purpose, it has emerged: boosting Crown Estate profits to a record £328.8million.

Wind farms were identified as a “key driver” in the record returns, making £27.7million and propelling the estate’s energy holdings to its best-performing sector, with an 18 per cent increase in the past year.

The £328.8million sum in 2016-17 is an 8.1 per cent rise from the previous year, meaning the Queen will receive £82.2million to fund her official work in the Sovereign Grant in two years’ time. The figure will be a year-on-year increase of £6million, under a system which sees the bulk of Crown Estate profits paid to the Treasury. A quarter is returned to the Queen’s household two years in arrears to be spent on official travel, household salaries, and, over the next 10 years, a major refurbishment of Buckingham Palace.

The Crown Estate has now paid more than £2.6billion into the country’s coffers in the last decade, thanks in part to large swathes of valuable London real estate. Details of the royal accounts are published today as part of an annual report, which show the Queen’s official net expenditure increased by £2 million to almost £42 million, while the Royal family’s official travel cost the taxpayer £4.5 million: up £500,000 from last year.

Sir Alan Reid, Keeper of the Privy Purse, said: “When you look at these accounts the bottom line is the Sovereign Grant last year equated to 65p per person, per annum, in the UK; that’s the price of a first class stamp. Consider that against what the Queen does and represents for this country; I believe it represents excellent value for money.”

Alison Nimmo, chief executive of the Crown Estate, said: “For over a decade we’ve carefully timed our development pipeline, focused on creating brilliant places in the best locations and maintained our active support of the UK’S world-leading offshore wind sector.”

Clarence House has also released its annual accounts, which showed the Prince of Wales’s income from his hereditary estate the Duchy of Cornwall has increased by 1.2 per cent to £20.7million. The Prince’s Duchy organic food range turned over more than £200million.

The official activities of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry are funded by the Duchy. This rose 8.6 per cent to £3.5million. The Prince’s tax bill, which he pays voluntarily at 45 per cent, has decreased by 5.1 per cent to £4.8million. The most expensive trip was a £154,000 visit by the Prince to Romania and, with the Duchess of Cornwall, Italy and Austria.