Re: Summer 2013 | Page 37

Prince Charles sends Cornish funds to personal charities

In the first issue of Re : Magazine I wrote about the Prince of Wales automatically inheriting the estates of some people who die without a Will in Cornwall . Six months later the story ’ s back in the news , with controversy over where the money ’ s going .
The entitlement , which last year netted the Duchy of Cornwall more than £ 450,000 , is funding grants to several charities the Prince supports , some of which seem to have little connection with Cornwall .
A grant of £ 20,000 was made to Prince Charles ’ national charity Business in the Community , whose supporters include some of the biggest companies in Britain .
£ 5,000 has gone to Gordonstoun , the Scottish public school where the Prince was educated . He memorably described it as “ Colditz with kilts ”. However it ’ s been reported that this grant was intended to support bursaries for Cornish children to help them with fees for the exclusive public school .
Another £ 1,000 went to the Londonbased Prince ’ s Foundation for Building Communities , which backs Prince Charles ’, often contentious , views on architecture and planning .
The channelling of intestate assets to the Duchy of Cornwall has long sparked criticism . In the rest of the country if someone dies without a Will and there ’ s no family to automatically inherit , the money to the public purse .
Burt Biscoe , a Councillor in Truro , told The Guardian that Prince Charles is “ abusing the loyalty ” of Cornish people and the “ privilege ” of receiving the intestate assets . The Councillor said “ If he is using this money to fund his own charities and his old school in Scotland then a further covert injustice is being prosecuted against Cornwall . Think what he could achieve if he gave that £ 450,000 to Cornwall every year … The area of giving should coincide with the area of taking .”
Graham Smith , director of Republic , a campaign for an elected head of state , added “ Charles is sitting on those funds when they could be supporting the vital work of charities , many of whom are really struggling at the moment . The trust has only negligible costs and doesn ’ t deliver any services so there ’ s no reason why that money can ’ t be used by voluntary and community organisations right now .”
The benevolent fund which looks after the money collected from Cornish intestate assets made 151 grants last year , including to the Soil Association ( the organic farming movement which Prince Charles supports ) and the Dorchester Arts Festival near the Prince ’ s Poundbury housing development in Dorset . A spokesman said that the Soil Association , Business in the Community and the Prince ’ s Foundation for Building Communities all carry out work in the south west .
The Prince has also been criticised for only distributing slightly over £ 100,000 to charity last year – less than a quarter of the £ 450,000 received , without including the investment income earned on these assets , and only a small proportion of the total assets of £ 3.3million that the benevolent fund is holding . This is shown in the annual accounts for the Duke of Cornwall ’ s Benevolent Fund to 30 th June
2012 , which are available on the Charity Commission ’ s website . The Charity Commission ’ s guidance on reserves says it will stage “ regulatory intervention ” if a charity ’ s reserves are excessive . It warns : “ while the funds remain in the trustees ’ hands , the charity ’ s current users or beneficiaries – actual or potential – are not being as well served as they could be .”
So , as the political comedian Jeremy Hardy said when discussing the story on BBC Radio 4 ’ s The News Quiz “… if you don ’ t make a Will and you die with no relatives – more fool you !” No one can avoid the dying part , but you can make sure your estate goes to people or charities that you like by the simple act of making a Will .
By Rebecca Haywood
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