Duchy of Cornwall
Encyclopedia
The Duchy of Cornwall is one of two royal duchies
in England
, the other being the Duchy of Lancaster
. The eldest son of the reigning British monarch
inherits the duchy and title of Duke of Cornwall
at the time of his birth, or of his parent's succession to the throne. If the monarch has no son, the estates of the duchy are held by the crown
, and there is no duke. The current duke is Charles, Prince of Wales
.
The principal activity of the duchy is the management of its land and properties. The duchy has a financial investment portfolio and owns land totalling 540.9 km² (or 133,700 acres). Nearly half of the holdings are in Devon
, with other large holdings in Cornwall
, Herefordshire
, Somerset
and Wales
. For the fiscal year 2007, the duchy was valued at £647 million, and annual profit in 2007 was £16.3 million, thus yielding 2.5%. The duchy also exercises certain legal rights and privileges across Cornwall, including some that elsewhere in England would usually belong to the crown.
As a crown body, the duchy is exempt
from paying corporation tax
, but, since 1993, the Prince of Wales has voluntarily paid income tax
. The prince paid a voluntary contribution to the treasury
of 50% of his duchy income from the time he became eligible for its full income at the age of 21 in 1969, and he has paid 25% since his 1981 marriage. Tax is calculated after deducting business expenditure, the biggest source of which is the prince's staff of about 110 persons, including private secretaries and a valet
working in his office at Clarence House
and at Highgrove House. Detailed records are kept to determine the split between public and private expenditure.
for his son, Edward, Prince of Wales
, the "Black Prince", who became the first Duke of Cornwall. The duchy consisted of two parts: the title and honour, and the landed estate that supported it financially. The core of the estate at its foundation was the 17 duchy manors found within the county. However, the duchy does not share the same boundaries as the county, and much of the estate has always been outside those boundaries. However, the duchy maintains a special relationship with Cornwall, and maintains various rights, such as that of appointing the county's High Sheriff
. The extent of the estate has varied as various holdings have been sold and acquired over the years, both within Cornwall and in other counties.
The subsequent charter of Henry IV
to Prince Henry
stated:
By this charter, all the manors of the earldom passed to the duchy and are known as the Antiqua maneria
.
(since 1399 held by the monarch in a personal capacity) have special legal rights not available to other landed estates: for example, the rules on bona vacantia
(the right to the estates of all those who die without named heirs) operate in favour of the holders of the duchies rather than the Crown. In 2007, £130,000 was realized from the right of bona vacantia. There are separate attorneys-general
for the duchies. Cornwall has its own Bar, and both the Attorney General and practising barristers and solicitors may be licensed or barred by the Duke.
Generally, the exemptions for Cornwall and Lancaster tend to follow the same line: any rights pertaining to the crown in most areas of the country instead pertain to the duke in right of the duchy. Also the High Sheriff of Cornwall
is appointed by the Duke of Cornwall, not the monarch, in contrast to the other counties of England and Wales.
According to Treasury solicitors and the Land Registry, the Duchy of Cornwall is broadly the same extent as the modern county. The duke owns freehold about 3/5 of the Cornish foreshore and the 'fundus', or bed, of navigable rivers. He has right of wreck on all ships wrecked on Cornish shores, including those afloat offshore, and also to "Royal fish", i.e. whales, porpoises, and sturgeon. By tradition, a sturgeon caught in the rivers of Cornwall is presented to the duke. The Duchy of Cornwall is the Harbour Authority for St Mary's Harbour.
In 1780, Edmund Burke
sought to curtail further the power of the crown by removing the various principalities which existed.
In Bruton v ICO the first tier tribunal found that the Duchy was a public authority for the purposes of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. The Guardian newspaper reported in 2011 that, since 2005, the Prince of Wales has been asked to give his consent to a number of draft bills on matters ranging from town planning to gambling, because it could affect his private interests, of which the Duchy of Cornwall is a substantial part. Andrew George, Liberal Democrat
Member of Parliament
for St Ives
, commented that "The duchy asserts that it is merely a private estate. Most people will be astonished to learn that it appears to have effective powers of veto over the government." Writing in the Guardian, lawyer David Gollancz commented that: "The duchy exercises a unique range of legal powers, which elsewhere are reserved for the crown.... It seems anomalous, and worrying, that such a huge estate, created and conferred by law and exercising significant legal powers, should be able to escape public scrutiny by calling itself a private estate."
, both as to personal funds and public and charitable work.
The duchy was created with the express purpose of providing income to the heir apparent to the throne; thus, it traditionally goes to the eldest son of the reigning monarch. Although the duke owns the income from the estate, he does not own the estate outright and does not have the right to sell capital assets for his own benefit.
In 2010, the duchy generated £17.1 million in income. As the Duke of Cornwall is not a subject of the Queen he is not required to pay income tax [18 The National Archives LO 3/467, Duchy of Cornwall – Land Tax and Valuation, 1913, see also My Queen and I, Willie Hamilton, 1975 p. 217]. However, Prince Charles makes a voluntary contribution equivalent to what he might pay in income tax if he were liable [See Wiki, Finances of the British Royal Family]. Approximately half of this income was spent on public and charitable works.
activists, Cornwall itself is described, de jure
, as a duchy as opposed to an ordinary county, and the duchy estates are distinguished from the duchy itself, having themselves been annexed and united to "the aforesaid duchy". The duke traditionally had a ceremonial role in summoning the Cornish Stannary Parliament
. The duchy does also have rights across the whole of the county, for example for the purposes of Bona vacantia
, where the estates of people who die intestate in Cornwall revert to the duchy. The Royal Commission on the Constitution
(Kilbrandon
, 1973) recommended that Cornwall be officially referred to as "the duchy" on what it described as "appropriate occasions".
The administrative machinery of Cornwall almost invariably refers to itself as a county. Even so, the county government jurisdiction was not co-extensive with the geographic borders of Cornwall until 2009, when the Cornwall Council united with six borough and district councils (Caradon, Carrick, Kerrier, North Cornwall, Restormel and Penwith).
Charles, Prince of Wales, has stated publicly that the Duchy of Cornwall is a "well managed private estate" and voluntarily pays certain taxes, which is inconsistent with the duke's traditional exercise of the "dominion of the Crown in and over the entire County of Cornwall".
Arms: Sable, fifteen bezants Or.
Supporters: On either side a Cornish chough proper [beaked and legged gules], supporting an ostrich feather Argent, penned Or.
Motto: Houmont (or Houmout)
.
The shield is ensigned by the Heir Apparent's coronet. The supporters were granted by Royal Warrant of 21 June 1968.
Duchy
A duchy is a territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess.Some duchies were sovereign in areas that would become unified realms only during the Modern era . In contrast, others were subordinate districts of those kingdoms that unified either partially or completely during the Medieval era...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the other being the Duchy of Lancaster
Duchy of Lancaster
The Duchy of Lancaster is one of the two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Cornwall. It is held in trust for the Sovereign, and is used to provide income for the use of the British monarch...
. The eldest son of the reigning British monarch
Monarchy of the United Kingdom
The monarchy of the United Kingdom is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties...
inherits the duchy and title of Duke of Cornwall
Duke of Cornwall
The Duchy of Cornwall was the first duchy created in the peerage of England.The present Duke of Cornwall is The Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning British monarch .-History:...
at the time of his birth, or of his parent's succession to the throne. If the monarch has no son, the estates of the duchy are held by the crown
The Crown
The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...
, and there is no duke. The current duke is Charles, Prince of Wales
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
.
The principal activity of the duchy is the management of its land and properties. The duchy has a financial investment portfolio and owns land totalling 540.9 km² (or 133,700 acres). Nearly half of the holdings are in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, with other large holdings in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, Herefordshire
Herefordshire
Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...
, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. For the fiscal year 2007, the duchy was valued at £647 million, and annual profit in 2007 was £16.3 million, thus yielding 2.5%. The duchy also exercises certain legal rights and privileges across Cornwall, including some that elsewhere in England would usually belong to the crown.
As a crown body, the duchy is exempt
Tax exemption
Various tax systems grant a tax exemption to certain organizations, persons, income, property or other items taxable under the system. Tax exemption may also refer to a personal allowance or specific monetary exemption which may be claimed by an individual to reduce taxable income under some...
from paying corporation tax
United Kingdom corporation tax
Corporation tax is a tax levied in the United Kingdom on the profits made by companies and on the profits of permanent establishments of non-UK resident companies and associations that trade in the EU. Prior to the tax's enactment on 1 April 1965, companies and individuals paid the same income tax,...
, but, since 1993, the Prince of Wales has voluntarily paid income tax
Taxation in the United Kingdom
Taxation in the United Kingdom may involve payments to a minimum of two different levels of government: The central government and local government. Central government revenues come primarily from income tax, National Insurance contributions, value added tax, corporation tax and fuel duty...
. The prince paid a voluntary contribution to the treasury
HM Treasury
HM Treasury, in full Her Majesty's Treasury, informally The Treasury, is the United Kingdom government department responsible for developing and executing the British government's public finance policy and economic policy...
of 50% of his duchy income from the time he became eligible for its full income at the age of 21 in 1969, and he has paid 25% since his 1981 marriage. Tax is calculated after deducting business expenditure, the biggest source of which is the prince's staff of about 110 persons, including private secretaries and a valet
Valet
Valet and varlet are terms for male servants who serve as personal attendants to their employer.- Word origins :In the Middle Ages, the valet de chambre to a ruler was a prestigious appointment for young men...
working in his office at Clarence House
Clarence House
Clarence House is a royal home in London, situated on The Mall, in the City of Westminster. It is attached to St. James's Palace and shares the palace's garden. For nearly 50 years, from 1953 to 2002, it was home to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, but is since then the official residence of The...
and at Highgrove House. Detailed records are kept to determine the split between public and private expenditure.
Foundation
The duchy was established in 1337 out of the former earldom of Cornwall by Edward III of EnglandEdward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
for his son, Edward, Prince of Wales
Edward, the Black Prince
Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Prince of Aquitaine, KG was the eldest son of King Edward III of England and his wife Philippa of Hainault as well as father to King Richard II of England....
, the "Black Prince", who became the first Duke of Cornwall. The duchy consisted of two parts: the title and honour, and the landed estate that supported it financially. The core of the estate at its foundation was the 17 duchy manors found within the county. However, the duchy does not share the same boundaries as the county, and much of the estate has always been outside those boundaries. However, the duchy maintains a special relationship with Cornwall, and maintains various rights, such as that of appointing the county's High Sheriff
High Sheriff of Cornwall
High Sheriffs of Cornwall: a chronological list:Note: The right to choose High Sheriffs each year is vested in the Duchy of Cornwall, rather than the Privy Council, chaired by the Sovereign, which chooses the Sheriffs of all other English counties, other than those in the Duchy of...
. The extent of the estate has varied as various holdings have been sold and acquired over the years, both within Cornwall and in other counties.
The subsequent charter of Henry IV
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
to Prince Henry
Henry V of England
Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....
stated:
- "We have made and created Henry our most dear first-begotten Son, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall and Earl of Chester, and have given and granted, and by our Charter have confirmed to him the said Principality, Duchy, and Earldom, that he may preside there, and by presiding, may direct and defend the said parts. We have invested him with the said Principality, Duchy, and Earldom, per sertum in capite et annulum in digito aureum ac virgam auream juxta morem."
By this charter, all the manors of the earldom passed to the duchy and are known as the Antiqua maneria
Antiqua maneria
The Antiqua maneria were the original 17 manors belonging to the Earldom of Cornwall.After March 1337 these manors passed to the new Duchy of Cornwall which was created by King Edward III to give financial support to his son Edward, the Black Prince .The table below shows the 17 Antiqua maneria...
.
The duchy in the Interregnum, 1649-1660
On the death of King Charles I the Crown lands came under the control of Parliament; this lasted until the restoration of King Charles II in 1660.Legal status
Both the Duchy of Cornwall and the Duchy of LancasterDuchy of Lancaster
The Duchy of Lancaster is one of the two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Cornwall. It is held in trust for the Sovereign, and is used to provide income for the use of the British monarch...
(since 1399 held by the monarch in a personal capacity) have special legal rights not available to other landed estates: for example, the rules on bona vacantia
Bona vacantia
Bona vacantia is a legal concept associated with property that has no owner. It exists in various jurisdictions, with consequently varying application, but with origins mostly in English law.-Canada:...
(the right to the estates of all those who die without named heirs) operate in favour of the holders of the duchies rather than the Crown. In 2007, £130,000 was realized from the right of bona vacantia. There are separate attorneys-general
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
for the duchies. Cornwall has its own Bar, and both the Attorney General and practising barristers and solicitors may be licensed or barred by the Duke.
Generally, the exemptions for Cornwall and Lancaster tend to follow the same line: any rights pertaining to the crown in most areas of the country instead pertain to the duke in right of the duchy. Also the High Sheriff of Cornwall
High Sheriff of Cornwall
High Sheriffs of Cornwall: a chronological list:Note: The right to choose High Sheriffs each year is vested in the Duchy of Cornwall, rather than the Privy Council, chaired by the Sovereign, which chooses the Sheriffs of all other English counties, other than those in the Duchy of...
is appointed by the Duke of Cornwall, not the monarch, in contrast to the other counties of England and Wales.
According to Treasury solicitors and the Land Registry, the Duchy of Cornwall is broadly the same extent as the modern county. The duke owns freehold about 3/5 of the Cornish foreshore and the 'fundus', or bed, of navigable rivers. He has right of wreck on all ships wrecked on Cornish shores, including those afloat offshore, and also to "Royal fish", i.e. whales, porpoises, and sturgeon. By tradition, a sturgeon caught in the rivers of Cornwall is presented to the duke. The Duchy of Cornwall is the Harbour Authority for St Mary's Harbour.
In 1780, Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
sought to curtail further the power of the crown by removing the various principalities which existed.
… the five several distinct principalities besides the supreme …. If you travel beyond Mount Edgcumbe, you find him [the king] in his incognito, and he is duke of Cornwall …. Thus every one of these principalities has the apparatus of a kingdom …. Cornwall is the best of them….However, his Parliamentary Bill failed, because the current duke (George, b. 1762) was still a minor.
In Bruton v ICO the first tier tribunal found that the Duchy was a public authority for the purposes of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. The Guardian newspaper reported in 2011 that, since 2005, the Prince of Wales has been asked to give his consent to a number of draft bills on matters ranging from town planning to gambling, because it could affect his private interests, of which the Duchy of Cornwall is a substantial part. Andrew George, Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for St Ives
St Ives, Cornwall
St Ives is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial...
, commented that "The duchy asserts that it is merely a private estate. Most people will be astonished to learn that it appears to have effective powers of veto over the government." Writing in the Guardian, lawyer David Gollancz commented that: "The duchy exercises a unique range of legal powers, which elsewhere are reserved for the crown.... It seems anomalous, and worrying, that such a huge estate, created and conferred by law and exercising significant legal powers, should be able to escape public scrutiny by calling itself a private estate."
Property
The Duchy owns 54,090 hectares of land (around 133,658 acres) over 23 counties, including farming, residential, and commercial properties, as well as an investment portfolio. In modern times, the considerable income from the Duchy has been the primary source of income for the Prince of WalesPrince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
, both as to personal funds and public and charitable work.
The duchy was created with the express purpose of providing income to the heir apparent to the throne; thus, it traditionally goes to the eldest son of the reigning monarch. Although the duke owns the income from the estate, he does not own the estate outright and does not have the right to sell capital assets for his own benefit.
In 2010, the duchy generated £17.1 million in income. As the Duke of Cornwall is not a subject of the Queen he is not required to pay income tax [18 The National Archives LO 3/467, Duchy of Cornwall – Land Tax and Valuation, 1913, see also My Queen and I, Willie Hamilton, 1975 p. 217]. However, Prince Charles makes a voluntary contribution equivalent to what he might pay in income tax if he were liable [See Wiki, Finances of the British Royal Family]. Approximately half of this income was spent on public and charitable works.
Duchy of Cornwall dispute
For some CornishCornish people
The Cornish are a people associated with Cornwall, a county and Duchy in the south-west of the United Kingdom that is seen in some respects as distinct from England, having more in common with the other Celtic parts of the United Kingdom such as Wales, as well as with other Celtic nations in Europe...
activists, Cornwall itself is described, de jure
De jure
De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact".De jure = 'Legally', De facto = 'In fact'....
, as a duchy as opposed to an ordinary county, and the duchy estates are distinguished from the duchy itself, having themselves been annexed and united to "the aforesaid duchy". The duke traditionally had a ceremonial role in summoning the Cornish Stannary Parliament
Stannary Courts and Parliaments
The Stannary Parliaments and Stannary Courts were legislative and legal institutions in Cornwall and in Devon , England. The Stannary Courts administered equity for the region's tin-miners and tin mining interests, and they were also courts of record for the towns dependent on the mines...
. The duchy does also have rights across the whole of the county, for example for the purposes of Bona vacantia
Bona vacantia
Bona vacantia is a legal concept associated with property that has no owner. It exists in various jurisdictions, with consequently varying application, but with origins mostly in English law.-Canada:...
, where the estates of people who die intestate in Cornwall revert to the duchy. The Royal Commission on the Constitution
Royal Commission on the Constitution (United Kingdom)
The Royal Commission on the Constitution, also referred to as the Kilbrandon Commission or Kilbrandon Report, was a long-running royal commission set up by Harold Wilson's Labour government to examine the structures of the constitution of the United Kingdom and the British Islands and the...
(Kilbrandon
Charles Shaw, Baron Kilbrandon
Charles James Dalrymple Shaw, Baron Kilbrandon PC was a Scottish judge and law lord.-Family and education:...
, 1973) recommended that Cornwall be officially referred to as "the duchy" on what it described as "appropriate occasions".
The administrative machinery of Cornwall almost invariably refers to itself as a county. Even so, the county government jurisdiction was not co-extensive with the geographic borders of Cornwall until 2009, when the Cornwall Council united with six borough and district councils (Caradon, Carrick, Kerrier, North Cornwall, Restormel and Penwith).
Charles, Prince of Wales, has stated publicly that the Duchy of Cornwall is a "well managed private estate" and voluntarily pays certain taxes, which is inconsistent with the duke's traditional exercise of the "dominion of the Crown in and over the entire County of Cornwall".
Coat of Arms
The armorial bearings of the Duchy of Cornwall are:Arms: Sable, fifteen bezants Or.
Supporters: On either side a Cornish chough proper [beaked and legged gules], supporting an ostrich feather Argent, penned Or.
Motto: Houmont (or Houmout)
.
The shield is ensigned by the Heir Apparent's coronet. The supporters were granted by Royal Warrant of 21 June 1968.
Offices
- Attorney-General
- Auditor
- Chancellor (Keeper of the Great Seal)
- Keeper of the Privy Seal
- Keeper of the Records
- Lord Warden of the StannariesLord Warden of the StannariesThe Lord Warden of the Stannaries used to exercise judicial and military functions in Cornwall, United Kingdom, and is still the official who, upon the commission of the monarch or Duke of Cornwall for the time being, has the function of calling a Stannary Parliament of tinners...
- Receiver-General
- Solicitor-General
- Surveyor-General
See also
- List of office holders of the Duchy of Cornwall
- Duchy Originals from Waitrose