The Windsors Pull A Fast One
"A mood of austerity may be stalking Britain, but the champagne is still flowing at Buckingham Palace" Financial Times
Britain's parliament has given in to the Windsor clan and has set back
British democracy by allowing the feudal family to reclaim some of the
revenue from the Crown Estate, a vast real estate holding valued at
£7.3bn that generated a suplus of £230.9 in 2010-11 and that belongs to
the people.
From 2011 the clan are to be given 15 per cent of the Estate's profits
in place of the grants that have been paid since 1760. But if property
prices fall, the clan will not lose out. It's income is guaranteed not
to fall, no matter what happens in the property market. According to
the Financial Times "The princely budgets will never be lesser than the
previous year's. When the Crown Estate does well, royals win: when it
does not, taxpayers lose". The Daily Mail has estimated that this could
eventually mean the Windsors taking £68m a year, twice their current
take, as wind farms increase the Estate's revenue.
After many years of trying, the Windsors, with the shameful help of the
government and opposition parties, have clawed back some of their lost
feudal wealth and privilege.
The Financial Times quoted a “government source” as saying that “The
royal family must have been getting the champagne out when we conceded
this. They have been trying for decades to persuade ministers to do it”.
According to the Daily Mail, a conservative newspaper, the decision to
change the funding arrangement, which was announced without fanfare, was
a “masterstroke” by Charles Windsor’s chief adviser, Michael Peat.
According to the newspaper “250 year of history was overturned” by the
decision to allow the Windsors to get their hands on income that has
been recognised since 1760 as belonging to the people of Britain. In
1760 the German side of the family had not yet emigrated to this
country.
"One could say they have pulled a fast one"
The Windsor clan has been pressing to receive income from the Estate for
over 100 years. Charles Windsor, who is due to become head of state on
the death of this mother, has pushed for it for 20 years. But until now
the Windsors’ claim that the Crown Estate belongs to them has been
resisted by governments of all parties.
A Mail source told the newspaper that “Charles (Windsor) has always
believed the money from the Crown Estate as taken away from the family.
Now they have got it back. One could say they have pulled a fast one”.
But this is about more than the money. It is also about the freedom that
the money will give members of the feudal institution. And it is about a
rolling back of the democratic progress that has reduced the privileges
of the Windsors and expanded the rights of the people.
The new concession will free the family from the limited accountability
to the people it has had. In a related development the government has
made the Windsors exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, so that
their activities in general will be shielded from public scrutiny.
In his biography of Mr. Windsor, Jonathan Dimbleby quoted people close
to him as saying he believed that the income from the Crown Estate would
help create “an independent and vigorous” monarchy.
And because the Windsor believe the Crown Estate is not the property of
the people, the new arrangement will allow them to lie that the feudal
institution costs the people nothing. According to the Financial Times
Windsor staff find it “unedifying” to have to justify their spending of
the money the people give them.
Rupert Ponsonby, a Conservative legislator-for-life, told the House of
Lords that the new funding proposal was “appropriate because the Crown
Estate remains the property of the Queen as sovereign”. A “government
source” refuted this, telling the Financial Times “There is a major
constitutional issue with appearing to say that (Elizabeth Windsor) owns
all this stuff when she doesn’t”.
Sovereign Support Grant
The proposed change in the form of public handouts was announced in
October. Chancellor George Osborne said the feudal family would be
allowed 15% of the Estate’s profits by means of a “Sovereign Support
Grant”, in place of the current annual handouts known as the “Civil
List”. He described the 15% Windsor cut of Estate income as “an
indicative figure” and said there would be safeguards to limit the
family’s income. The National Audit Office will also be able to examine
the new grant.
But this form of handout would end the current limited public scrutiny
of the Windsor finances that their dependence on the “civil list” grants
gives. According to the Daily Mail it will send £68m a year streaming
into the family’s bank account. If present trends continue they would
also be guaranteed an annual increase.
The huge size of the payments would result from the development of
offshore wind farms. The seabed on which they will be based is public
property owned by the Crown Estate. Wind farm owners pay the Estate a
fee to run cables across the seabed and a percentage of the income from
electricity generation.
Doubling Their Money
The Estate says that its profits from the wind farms could reach £100m a
year, giving £15m annually to the family. However, industry experts
told the Mail that by 2020 income could reach £250m, £37.5 of which
would be passed on to the Windsors. In total their 15% of Crown Estate
profits would amount to £68m, more than double their current handout.
This Windsor triumph has taken Britain backwards, further away from a
break with the feudal past, further away from fully democratic
institutions and further away from a democratic society. Mr. Windsor
will be freer to use his privileged potion to advance his prejudices,
which in the past have prevented modern architecture and promoted
homoeopathic remedies at the expense of taxpayers.
The Windsors will be potentially much richer, in a stronger position to
claim that they pay their own way, and able to increase their freedom to
put pressure on the government with less worrying that parliament might
rein them in.
As Britain has no written constitution, and effectively therefore, no
constitution of any reliability, challenging constitutional attacks such
as this is particularly difficult. The only safeguard is a legislature
occupied by legislators who have sworn allegiance to the Windsor
family.
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