Prince Charles' 'creative accounting' reined in
Capital lending from Duchy of Cornwall cut back by Treasury.
The Treasury is to cut back on a so-called ‘creative accounting’ scheme that has allowed Prince Charles to access about £1.2m in payments from the Duchy of Cornwall.
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Currently, the prince is entitled to revenues of nearly £12m a year but is not supposed to touch the capital. However, an act of parliament in 1982 allowed the capital account to lend the revenue account an additional £1.4m.
From next Wednesday, two days before the prince’s marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles, this level of money will drop to £950,000. This will fall further to £750,000 next April and £600,000 the year after, according to The Guardian.
These figures had were concealed when the Commons public accounts committee questioned officials from the Duchy in February, but have now been released under the Freedom of Information Act.
At the time Labour MP Gerry Steinberg said the process was ‘creative accounting’.
