Revealed: King Charles secretly profiting from the assets of dead citizens
The king is profiting from the deaths of thousands of people in the north-west of England whose assets are secretly being used to upgrade a commercial property empire managed by his hereditary estate, the Guardian can reveal.
The Duchy of Lancaster, a controversial land and property estate that generates huge profits for King Charles III, has collected tens of millions of pounds in recent years under an antiquated system that dates back to feudal times.
Financial assets known as bona vacantia, owned by people who died without a will or known next of kin, are collected by the duchy. Over the last 10 years, it has collected more than £60m in the funds. It has long claimed that, after deducting costs, bona vacantia revenues are donated to charities.
However, only a small percentage of these revenues is being given to charity. Internal duchy documents seen by the Guardian reveal how funds are secretly being used to finance the renovation of properties that are owned by the king and rented out for profit.
The duchy essentially inherits bona vacantia funds from people whose last known address was in a territory that in the middle ages was known as Lancashire county palatine and ruled by a duke. Today, the area comprises Lancashire and parts of Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Cumbria.
A leaked internal duchy policy from 2020 gave officials at the king’s estate licence to use bona vacantia funds on a broad array of its profit-generating portfolio. Codenamed “SA9”, the policy acknowledges spending the money in this way could result in an “incidental” benefit to the privy purse, the king’s personal income.
Properties identified in other leaked documents as eligible for use of the funds include town houses, holiday lets, rural cottages, agricultural buildings, a former petrol station and barns, including one used to facilitate pheasant and partridge shoots in Yorkshire.
Upgrades include new roofs, double-glazing windows, boiler installations and replacements of doors and lintels. One document references the renovation of an old farmhouse in Yorkshire, helping transform it into a highend residential let. Another upgrade is helping turn a farm building into commercial offices.
Three sources familiar with the duchy’s expenditure confirmed the estate was using revenues collected from dead citizens to refurbish its profitable property portfolio, making considerable savings for the estate. One said duchy insiders regarded the bona vacantia expenditure, which has until now not been publicly disclosed, as akin to “free money” and a “slush fund”.
The diversion of bona vacantia funds in this way has proven a financial boon to the king’s estate. The practice is helping make rental properties more profitable, which indirectly benefits the king, who receives tens of millions in duchy profits each year – income that Buckingham Palace says is “private”. Earlier this year, in his first annual payout since inheriting the estate from his mother, Charles received £26m from the Duchy of Lancaster.
The Guardian identified dozens of people whose money has been transferred to the king’s hereditary estate after they died in the northwest in places such as Preston, Manchester, Burnley, Blackburn, Liverpool, Ulverston and Oldham. Several had been living in rundown properties or social housing that contrast with the high-end duchy properties being transformed with the money they left behind.
Some of their surviving friends were aghast to learn their assets were being used to renovate the king’s properties, calling the practice “disgusting”, “shocking” and “not ethical”.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment. A Duchy of Lancaster spokesperson indicated that, following his mother’s death, the king endorsed the continuation of a policy of using bona vacantia money on “the restoration and repair of qualifying buildings in order to protect and preserve them for future generations”.
Bona vacantia in practice
In most of England and Wales, the assets of people who die without making a will and have no identifiable relatives are transferred to the Treasury, which then spends them on public services. The system is known by the Latin name bona vacantia, meaning “vacant goods”, or assets that have no owner.
However, under a custom that has its roots in the medieval period, two hereditary estates, or duchies, belonging to the royal family can collect bona vacantia from people who die in two regions in England. They also collect leftover assets owned by companies at the point they are dissolved.
One is the Duchy of Cornwall, which generates profits for whoever is the heir to the throne. Charles used to closely manage the duchy, but last year it passed to his son, Prince William. It collects bona vacantia funds from deceased Cornish residents.
The other is the Duchy of Lancaster, inherited by Charles from his mother,
Queen Elizabeth II, when she died last year. Both duchies are professionally run real estate empires that manage swaths of farmland, hotels, castles, offices, warehouses, shops and urban property, including some of London’s prime luxury real estate.
Neither duchy pays corporation tax or capital gains tax, giving them a significant commercial advantage. They have become huge cash cows for the royals, generating the equivalent of more than £1.2bn in profits over the last 60 years.
Both duchies have long claimed that once costs are deducted, the money is distributed to charities. The Duchy of Lancaster’s website states that “proceeds” of bona vacantia go to three registered charities after costs are deducted. However, its accounts suggest only 15% of the £61m it has collected in bona vacantia over the last decade has been donated to charities.
According to multiple sources familiar with duchy expenditures, a large and growing portion of bona vacantia funds have for several years been directed toward renovating properties that the duchy lets out on a