King Charles can’t afford to risk allegations of hypocrisy with billion farm deal | royal | News

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King Charles ‘cannot afford to risk allegations of hypocrisy’ with the £1billion deal for six offshore wind farms, an expert said in a scathing comment. On Thursday, it was reported that King Charles had asked for a profit boost from six new offshore wind farms on the Crown Estate, worth £1billion, to be used for the ‘wider public good’ “, rather than for the royal family.

Public funding of the Royal Household is based on 25% of the profits of the Crown Estate.

But King Charles wants to reduce this percentage so that more is kept by the Treasury to be used for public spending.

The King spoke about cost of living pressures in his Christmas speech.

In his celebratory message, King Charles underlined the pressures of the cost of living crisis – and he appears to be taking steps to head off what could have been a clumsy rise in business revenue.

Writing about the decision in the Telegraph, deputy editor Gordon Rayner said: ‘As a long-time campaigner for environmental issues, the King undoubtedly supports the government’s net zero principle, of which wind energy is a crucial element.

“But having used his first Christmas show to talk about the hardships people are facing during the cost of living crisis, he simply cannot afford to risk the allegations of hypocrisy that would come with what Buckingham Palace has described as an ‘offshore energy windfall’.”

The Crown Estate is an independently run commercial enterprise, with profits going to the Treasury – but those profits are used as a benchmark for the level of public funding for the Royal Family, known as the Sovereign Grant, which last year was worth £86.3 million.

Mr Rayner added: ‘Not only that, but wind farms attract taxpayer-funded subsidies, and the King knows that even the vaguest suggestion that he has benefited from green levies or exorbitant energy bills, even indirectly, would be dynamite in the hands of Republicans.

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The grant is used to pay for working expenses of the royal family, such as travel for official engagements, and for upkeep of the royal palaces.

A review of what percentage of profits from the Crown Estate goes into royal funding is currently underway with the Treasury, with a decision expected in the coming months.

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