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King Charles has been dragged into the “woke” row between Disney and Florida Republicans after the company used an obscure legal loophole referencing the Monarch. The battle comes amid a power struggle over who will control Disney’s parks in the Sunshine State.

Until recently, Disney controlled it’s 27,000-acre theme park near Orlando through a board called the Reedy Creek Improvement District. In February, Ron DeSantis created a new board to control the district in an effort to stop the company’s “woke agenda”.

However, before this new board was able to take over, the old board rushed through changes – name dropping King Charles III – limiting the new board’s control.

The last minute change added the royal lives clause into the special tax district agreement, which effectively preserves Disney’s control over the area.

The agreement is valid permanently or until “21 years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III”, according to the document.

Similar royal lives clauses have been used since the late 17th century and still exist in some UK contracts but are much rarer in the US.

Buckingham Palace has not commented on the issue but the Royal Family’s “never complain, never explain” mantra likely means they won’t weigh in particularly as the issue is sensitive in the States and could spark a diplomatic incident.

The special tax district agreement means Disney could veto changes to its parks proposed by Ron DeSantis’s new board. It also prohibits the new board from using Disney’s name or characters and selling Disney merchandise.

Members of the new board have complained that the agreement bypasses them completely and has hired lawyers to contest the matter.

Disney, however said in a statement that “all agreements signed between Disney and the District were appropriate, and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums”.

The move to bring in a new board by DeSantis effectively got rid of an agreement between Disney and the State of Florida which had existed since the 1970s that created a special district in which allowed Disney to tax itself in order to provide essential services to its parks.

“Today the corporate kingdom finally comes to an end. There’s a new sheriff in town, and accountability will be the order of the day,” DeSantis said of the company in February.

The Florida Governor is seen as a front runner next to Trump in the 2024 Republican Primary and has staked his reputation on the so-called US culture wars branding Florida as the place where “woke goes to die”.

Tensions between Florida Republicans and Disney have escalated most recently over the state’s “Don’t say gay” bill which limits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.

Republicans originally wanted to scrap Disney’s special district altogether but that could have resulted in Florida being saddled with £1.6 billion ($2 billion) in debt.

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