Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall use the revenue from the Duchy, the ancient hereditary estate of the heir apparent, to finance much of their public and private lives. The finances of the Duchy, which generates £21.7million per year  have come under fresh scrutiny this month, as Harry and Meghan make their break away from the Royal Family. It is thought that Charles will finance the Sussexes with £2million annually, either from his private fortune or from the Duchy of Cornwall, which funded the pair as working royals.

One ceaseless campaigner for more transparency in how the Duchy of Cornwall and its finances are run is the Labour life peer Lord Berkeley.

The Cornish parliamentarian has put a bill before the House of Lords five times in order to restrict the Duchy’s powers.

However, Lord Berkeley’s  last two bills have come a-cropper because of the political manoeuvring of Boris Johnson’s government.

The peer wants to see through a number of changes to how the Duchy of Cornwall is run, including removing a number of its ancient powers and privileges.

He also argues that the Duchy itself states that it is a private estate, and so its tax and financial stats should come in line with other private institutions.

Parliamentary records show how the peer’s 2017 Duchy of Cornwall Bill passed its second reading on November 28, 2018.

However, the bill made no further progress through Parliament because of the prorogation in late August 2019.

Lord Berkeley was quick to reintroduce the bill after Parliament resumed, getting a first reading scheduled for October 17.

However, the 2019 bill was also scuppered, after Parliament was dissolved on November 6 for the December general election.

The 80-year-old peer is still vocal about his campaign, writing on Twitter this month about his opinion on Charles funding Harry and Meghan form the estate.

He said: “With Iran, Brexit and Aussie fires why such an interest in Harry and Meghan?  

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“Let them leave but let them pay their way; no more free flights or security at taxpayer expense!  

“Charles wants a smaller Royal Family; here it is but he should not pay for them out of Duchy income.”

A 2015 Duchy of Cornwall Bill was also forced to a stop when the session of Parliament ended. 

Lord Berkeley said at the time: “I’m not going to give up on this. I want a more transparent monarchy and I want less members of the Royal Family.

“It’s not right for Prince Andrew, for example, to be going round the world at our expense.”

He previously introduced a bill in 2013,  which also looked at the Sovereign Grant in addition to Duchy finances, which did not get to its second reading.

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