Here’s 10 things you might not know about the Duchy of Cornwall.
The Prince of Wales gets an annual income of more than £20 million a year from the hereditary landed estate.
Charles inherited the Duchy of Cornwall and became the Duke of Cornwall when he was just three years old when his mother became Queen, but he was only entitled to its income when he turned 21.
A young Prince Charles. (PA)
The Duchy owns a £35 million commercial warehouse in Milton Keynes, let to B&Q.
Poundbury, Charles’ model town in Dorchester, is on Duchy land.
The Duchy estate covers more than 130,965 acres in 23 counties, and includes 67,460 acres of Dartmoor, and flower farms on the Isles of Scilly.
It also owns the Oval cricket ground and Dartmoor prison. Tintagel Castle in Cornwall is on Duchy land – the remains of the 13th century castle are cared for by English Heritage.
The Oval. (Steve Paston/EMPICS)
As well as land and property, the Duchy also has a financial investment portfolio. The value of the Duchy’s total assets is more than £1.046 billion.
When there is no male heir, the Duchy reverts to the monarch, and the annual Sovereign Grant is reduced each year by the amount of the Duchy’s income.
In Cornwall, when an individual dies with no will or surviving relatives their property or estate passes to Charles as the Duke of Cornwall.
But, after any discretionary payments have been made, the Prince donates all such monies to the Duke of Cornwall’s Benevolent Fund, which he set up in 1975 to benefit local communities in the South West of England.