Andrew Took Epstein’s Money. But The Royals Took Yours.

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]This video is about the secrets the royal family does not want you to know and why you are not allowed to ask.

[00:00:06]Watch it through because by the end you will understand where Andrew's money comes from and how a family that was bankrupt in 1760 is now worth billions.

[00:00:16]If that matters to you, hit subscribe.

[00:00:19]We know that Andrew and Sarah Ferguson got money from Epstein. How much was he getting? Do we know?

[00:00:24]We just ask what he gave Andrew by way of return.

[00:00:28]The allegation from the emails was that Andrew was passing on highly sensitive financial information from the British government, passing it to Epstein who would then There's only one word for that.

[00:00:39]Treason. Do people still go to prison for treason?

[00:00:41]>> Well, you could get executed until 1998.

[00:00:45]Big scandal on the royal family's finance. It poses the questions to how it was that a family which was bankrupt in 1760 is now worth billions. It hasn't come from betting on the horses. In 2011, they got 7.9 million. This year, 132.1 million. Who Is Andrew going to go to a actual prison?

[00:01:07]Tell me a little bit about your book before we get going.

[00:01:10]Royal Mint National Debt. This is about the finances of the royal family and really it poses the questions to how it was that a family which was bankrupt in 1760 is now worth billions.

[00:01:23]Where does that money come from? It hasn't come from betting on the horses.

[00:01:26]So, where does it come from? So, the book goes into the various ways in which they have accumulated wealth. Most of which is frankly from the public purse.

[00:01:33]Mhm. One of the people that we've been looking into, everyone's been looking into, is Prince Andrew, of course. He now has no title, no anything really.

[00:01:42]So, how is he affording to get by?

[00:01:45]Well, we don't know that really, but obviously he had some money given to him in in in in a trust. Mhm. Um, I think from the Queen Mother originally and then I think probably from his mother.

[00:01:54]But, it's true that the amount of money he spends uh is uh in excess of what he clearly earns. I mean, all he's entitled to now is a naval pension, which is about 20,000 pounds a year.

[00:02:06]>> Mhm. When the queen was around, he got a quarter of a million a year in from her through the Duchy of Lancaster. But even so, that was well below what he was actually spending. We do know that in his time as trade envoy, he was very busy uh arguing for uh deals for himself rather than arguing for deals for Britain.

[00:02:24]>> Mhm. And in my book, uh I set out some examples of of uh dodgy dealing which he had which proved to be quite lucrative for him. Mhm. So, he was on 250 grand a year, basically.

[00:02:35]That's And it wasn't >> naval pension, 270 was all we officially know about. But that pension was he what was he getting that? He was getting that from his time in the Royal Navy. Oh, right. So, for since he was what, 20-something?

[00:02:46]>> Yeah, I mean, that that he was obviously in the Falklands War and everything else. So, 20,000 pounds a year is what he got from that. I mean, that's peanuts. Mhm. Particularly when he's half supporting Sarah Ferguson. Mhm.

[00:02:57]Whose tendency to spend money is legendary. Still a good deal of money though, isn't it, for the average person?

[00:03:03]What, 20,000? Well, what, 270, yeah.

[00:03:06]Well, it is. I mean, he he used to live within his means now because the king, I think, has cut him off from uh that the the royal finances. Uh and I think that was done to try and force him out of um his property in Windsor. Mhm. Um and clearly cuz Charles wants to distance himself from Andrew and say, "Nothing to do with me, mate." Uh which is easier said than done, actually. We can go on to that if you like. Mhm. Um but, you know, he's clearly had money from other sources. I mean, let's face it, he had this chalet in Switzerland, this ski chalet, which cost um I think about 15, from memory, 15 million pounds. Um where's that come from? How can you afford to do that? Sarah Ferguson bought a house in Mayfair for 4.2 million. Where are all these money pots of money coming from? And they don't just inherit money, the royals.

[00:03:53]They don't just sort of wake up or be born and have millions in their bank account. Well, I mean, I think that there's a tendency to make sure that when children are born, um, trust funds were established for them to make sure they're not poor and to keep them going. That's one thing that they do internally.

[00:04:08]Uh, the royal family also has great investments in offshore uh, businesses, uh, sometimes in very dodgy regimes, uh, which are frowned upon in terms of where money should go.

[00:04:20]At least they they got no particular benefit from that, in which case the question is what are they just going to do with the bank and put it all into Barclays?

[00:04:26]Um, they must get some benefit from it and this came out with the Paradise Papers and so on, which showed some of the investments that that they'd made.

[00:04:32]So, that's one source of of money they get, uh, which helps them along the way. And of course, beyond that, uh, we know that, for example, Andrew and Sarah Ferguson got money from Epstein. Ah. So, that's, yeah, that's the big part, isn't it? And how how much was he getting, do we know? Well, we don't know definitely.

[00:04:48]We know that she borrowed borrowed money in relation to how much she borrowed money uh, from Epstein, uh, never gave it back as far as we can tell.

[00:04:55]Uh, we also know that, um, Andrew was involved in various deals with uh, people around the world which sometimes uh, involved Epstein.

[00:05:04]Uh, and uh, at least Epstein got the information back and we just ask what what uh, he gave Andrew uh, by way of return. And of course, that's the matter which the police are currently looking at, uh, the misuse of public money public office.

[00:05:18]Um, and in fact, the allegation from the al emails which came out in in the states was that Andrew was passing on highly sensitive financial information from the British government at a very very challenging time for this country, at the time of the banking collapse in 2008, passing it to Epstein who would then pass it on to his mates in the American banking industry. And as as I made clear in the article I wrote for the for the Daily Mail, if you pass on sensitive information to a a party outside this country potentially damaging this country. There's only one word for that, treason.

[00:05:52]>> [clears throat] >> And is that one of is that do people still go to prison for treason to cuz that was the one that you can get executed for? Well, that you could get executed until 1998 um when the Labour government came in under Blair abolished the death penalty.

[00:06:05]Hadn't been used of course since um 1945 when Lord Haw-Haw was executed, you know, the the traitor who um did radio broadcasts with the Nazis.

[00:06:15]He [clears throat] was the last one to be executed. But it still was on the statute book as was um I think piracy in the high seas, but all these offenses which were there historically were abolished in 1998. However, it's still a crime of course it's a crime uh treason. With a long sentence? Yes, absolutely. [clears throat] And the the thing is that I understand the police now looking at whether that would apply in Andrew's case because the offense which he has been interviewed for and arrested for with this um um maladministration in public office um that's reasonably difficult to prove.

[00:06:50]Um treason's much less difficult to prove. Oh man. It's an interesting one, isn't it? Cuz like all all the newspaper uh the headlines were all about the the sex stuff and the abuse of of of you know underage girls and things on on Epstein Island and what he's actually maybe going down for is is maybe would you say it's less uh sensational in in sort of newspaper terms? Less sensational in newspaper terms, but actually in some ways and I don't wish to minimize the impact on the on on the uh on the women and girls who were exploited by Epstein. Mhm. But the fact is that Andrew's treatment of public money and the way he behaved as a trade envoy was absolutely scandalous in my view.

[00:07:30]And uh I've said for a long time that the big scandal in the royal family is finance, not anything else.

[00:07:36]Uh and I was asking questions about this when I was a member of parliament back in the 20 years ago. And in my book, in fact, at the back, there's a parliamentary answer which lists all the countries Andrew had been to between 2001 2008 at that point as trade envoy. And what you see from that is a huge number of visits to a very small number of countries. All of which are in the Middle East, all the Stans, all of which have dodgy regimes, and all of which are ones which value contact with the British royal family. Well, put two and two together and what do you get? Bloody hell. It's crazy it went on that long.

[00:08:11]And were you doing the FOIs and things as well? I know Andrew Lownie was doing those and wasn't getting any answers.

[00:08:15]>> No, Andrew Andrew Lownie's done some fantastic work on FOI, but I mean, I have to say that the amount of money the amount of stuff he's got back in terms of answers is pretty pitiful, which shows the Freedom of Information Act doesn't work when it comes to the royal family. No, I was asking parliamentary questions, which are more difficult to evade than Freedom of Information questions. They're much more immediate because you get an answer in 2 weeks or even less in a parliamentary question.

[00:08:39]And the fact of the matter is that and this is a great issue which Andrew and I share a view on, which is that the exemption, effectively exemption of the royal family from Freedom of Information is a disgrace.

[00:08:52]They are part of the public sector. They have public money. They perform public duties. And anybody who does those things, whether it's a local councilor or whether it's a member of the headteacher in a school or whether it's someone in the health service or a government minister, they are accountable. And you can ask about those particular functions. There's an exemption for the royal family.

[00:09:15]And it's got worse over 20 years because back in 2000 or thereabouts, when the act's being put together, I asked the relevant minister um at the time in a parliamentary question, um whether the royal family would be treated the same as any other bit of the public sector. And I was assured it would be. I should it would be. Well, that's all gone by the board. And at the same time as the Freedom of Information Act has widened in terms of what's caught by it. For example, Network Rail never used to be there and it's now been brought into the act.

[00:09:45]The only body to go in the opposite direction is the monarchy.

[00:09:49]And why has that happened? Because the Guardian pursued uh these so-called spider letters which Charles had written to government ministers. Spider letters were when Charles quite improperly was writing to ministers and making the highly political points and arguing for political positions. For example, in favor of fox hunting, in favor of um homeopathy, uh saying there wasn't enough money spent on this particular area of of defense. You know, absolutely outside what he should have been doing.

[00:10:18]This was meant to be non-political roles.

[00:10:20]And the Guardian got hold of these letters and wanted to publish them. And there was a big fight with the government as to whether or not they would have access to those letters.

[00:10:29]Well, the Guardian won. Well done, the Guardian. And we saw a 30 or 40 of those letters finally published. So, we when we know that uh Charles was making these uh improper invest- improper suggestions to government. Well, what was the reaction of Charles at that point? Was it to say "Hands up. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I I became too political. I won't do it again." No. His response was to go to the government and say, "I've been found out. Can we now change the Freedom of Information Act so people can't find out in future?"

[00:10:59]Uh uh in other words, "I'll carry on, but I want it to be I want to be protected so people can't find out." And that's what the government did. And the the act was changed to give him and William blanket exemption from um from information release.

[00:11:14]And it's not just uh those two.

[00:11:16]Let's think about um Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and his um famous expedition to either a nightclub in London or the Pizza Express in Woking, depending on your point of view.

[00:11:28]Well, there's a simple way to determine what the answer is.

[00:11:31]Which is at that point, Andrew had coverage and continual support from police protection officers, royal protection officers.

[00:11:39]So, there's a there'll be a record. The Metropolitan Police will have a record as to which officers are with them on that particular evening and where they were. So, I wrote to the Metropolitan Police and said, "Can you tell me, please, where your officers with Andrew were on that particular evening?" They refused to do so. So, it's a matter of secrecy, effectively, and exempt under the Freedom of Information Act.

[00:12:00]So, that's another example of why information should be released to the public. It's nonsense to say it's a matter of security 20-odd years ago.

[00:12:09]Absolute nonsense. I would just say in passing, of course, if Andrew was at which speech he's expressing in Woking, and I have to say no one seems to have seen him down there. No staff have come forward to say he was there. No customers have come forward to say he was there.

[00:12:21]But if he was there, uh being very um uh careful not to reveal his identity, then um why doesn't he ask the Metropolitan Police to produce the records to demonstrate he was there? He hasn't done so. Yeah, he would.

[00:12:33]>> Well, that speaks loudly, doesn't it?

[00:12:35]That silence speaks loudly.

[00:12:37]Yeah, that it seems there are many ways he could prove various statements that he made and has refused to do so. And he's been asked by the authorities in America to give evidence, and they've offered, I think, to get he can go to the embassy in London and do so. He doesn't have to go across to the across the pond to America.

[00:12:54]Um and in Yes Minister terms, to you to quote from Yes Minister, he has given the authorities in America every possible assistance short of actual help. And and the same with Sarah Ferguson. She should be testifying uh to the American authorities. Why don't they do so? If he's really concerned about um uh girls being abused, as he says he is, then why doesn't he help the American authorities? One of the uh payments he was reportedly paid was was 2 million or so from a Kazakh official, Kazakhstani, does one say, or Kazakh? What's What was that? Well, there was a there was a 3 million um commission which was due to him uh which was the result of him sending a couple of emails. That's all it was. And he was getting 3 million which was 1% of the contract. He was going to earn for just those couple of emails. It didn't actually happen in the end because what happened was that the authorities got rather exuberant and when some workers went on strike, they shot them all. And it became such a bad news story that thing didn't proceed.

[00:13:53]So, but he would have he would have got 3 million for that had that proceeded.

[00:13:57]So, you have to think, well, that we know about that one, but how many don't we know about?

[00:14:01]>> Yeah, we sold the the Swiss chalet, I think, to pay presumably to pay for the Virginia Giuffre money. Well, we don't know where where the money from that came from, but um we think, I think anyway, some of it at least came from the Queen and some from other members of the royal family who kind of clubbed together to to bail them out. But, you know, there's a couple of things follow from that. First of all, the alleged figure is 12 million pounds. Which is a lot of money to pay to someone who you've never met. Yeah. I've never met Prince Andrew, so perhaps he'd give me 12 million pounds on that basis. That's one thing. The second thing is that, and this is why it's current, is what did Charles know at the time? What did the Queen know? If they were bailing him out, they would have asked questions. They would have known what that was about. Even even they didn't bail him out. The fact that he was giving 12 million pounds to someone, they would have asked questions even in private. Say, "What's this about? What have you been doing?" So, you know, the idea that they're taking action now and Charles is trying to get credit for taking action now. I'm sorry, he's 15 years too late. What was he doing back in 2011?

[00:15:09]I feel like I mean, would you say are you anti-monarchy or do you want a monarchy that behaves?

[00:15:13]>> I've said publicly on many occasions that philosophically, I think it makes sense to have a republic because I don't like the idea of someone inheriting a position just because of rights of birth. I find that offensive in a in a way. And also the monarchy is is um you know, you're dependent on who comes to the throne. I mean, you may see someone like George V who was boring but quite reliable. People think Elizabeth II was by and large dutiful.

[00:15:39]Um however, Edward VIII was basically a Nazi.

[00:15:43]Um and he was there just before the Second World War. And had he not been got rid of uh before the Second World War, um what would he have said to all the soldiers and all the people in in the armed forces who took a personal oath to him, not to the country? Suppose he'd said to them, "Lay down your arms." What would they have done? You know, you can't risk these things with with a monarch. In fact, there's some evidence which I put in my previous book, "And What Do You Do?"

[00:16:08]that um Mrs. Simpson, who he married, was actually a convenient excuse. And Baldwin, who was the Prime Minister, um actually found that as a convenient excuse to get rid of him get rid of uh Edward off the throne.

[00:16:20]Um because he could have actually found a way to allow him to marry.

[00:16:23]Uh and he chose not to do so. Cuz he wanted him out. Uh they wanted him out.

[00:16:27]And uh and again in the book I I make it clear that amazingly, perhaps, um Edward VIII was subject to telephone tapping by MI5.

[00:16:37]Um the the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary went along to MI5 and arranged him to be telephone tapped. That's how serious the matter was. So, with a with a monarchy, you end up with someone you can't control. And let's just remember that had Charles died before William was born, we would now have King Andrew I on the throne.

[00:16:56]So, you know, you know, republic gives you potential bad people as presidents, but at least you can vote them out. No one can vote out a member of the royal family.

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[00:17:58]Bon Charge ships worldwide with fast delivery, plus you get free shipping on the mask and a 12-month warranty. Go to boncharge.com/heretics and use code heretics for 15% off. Wait, so I never thought about that. So, Andrew would be if Charles had died before his kids were born. Andrew was second in line to the throne at that point.

[00:18:17]Oh, wow.

[00:18:19]Okay, yeah, that does make sense, of course. So, so the answer to your question, sorry to come back to it, the answer to your question much that I'm philosophically not in favor of an hereditary system. However, if the royal family was to completely reform itself and become far more like the monarchies which apply in Scandinavian countries and the Benelux countries, then I could probably live with that.

[00:18:39]Okay. Yeah, I mean, that the the argument for monarch There's several arguments for the monarch. I think it it appears that countries that have monarchies are happier. I think Stephen Stephen Fry ran this kind of study or or he's he's already spoken about it. Well, I don't know if that's true or not. I mean, look, I mean, if you live in Sweden or Norway, you're happier anyway cuz they're pretty functional countries. And they are the nice countries. They've got plenty of space. They've got good education system. The gap between rich and poor is less.

[00:19:06]Now, they may have a monarchy, but is that the reason? I don't think it is necessarily. Then another argument might be, um, particularly in today's world of multiculturalism, lots of different people moving to different places, it's one of the few things that that remain constant in an ever-changing society, something to all put your hat on and say, "Hey, we're all part of this culture." A symbol. Well, I mean, we're not part of that culture because they live The Royal Family in Britain lives an exceedingly exalted life away from other people.

[00:19:34]They have far more money than anybody else in the country, near enough.

[00:19:37]They got acres and acres, literally, of land.

[00:19:40]William's just commandeered 150 acres in Windsor Great Park to go around his new house and put a fence up around it without planning permission, I might say, or any consultation. Really? Yes. I didn't even know this. I mean, how many houses How many How much space does these people need?

[00:19:54]>> Well, I mean, there's a chapter in my book called Houses of Windsor.

[00:19:57]Um William's got about six or seven or eight houses. I mean, he's also running a campaign on homelessness. You have to ask yourself >> [laughter] >> what he's doing with that. Um It is a bit of grotesque, isn't it? Yeah, but also The Royal Family, of course, is a private health, private education.

[00:20:12]They're entitled to do so, but don't pretend they're representative of the country at large. They're not.

[00:20:16]>> Well, they're a symbol nonetheless.

[00:20:17]Doesn't mean they're representative.

[00:20:18]They're a symbol. Something Well, also, they're not a symbol of multiculturalism because, although Charles may want to be so, he is there as a Protestant king, as head of the Church of England. The church, in my view, should be disestablished and shouldn't be related to the king. What's the king doing in charge in charge of a church? And William, apparently, is not very keen on on on Christianity or not very keen on going to church. Well, that's that's fine. That's what people might I don't criticize or endorse that. But he's being forced into a position where he's going to be head of the Church of England, whether he wants to be or not.

[00:20:47]That cannot be right. That is weird. To have that situation. So, and I went to the uh Accession Council as a member of the Privy Council, cuz I'm a member of the Privy Council, in uh advising the king, advising to pay tax, by the way, but advise the king.

[00:21:01]Uh and um at that Accession Council, when I was there, he had to read out this absolute lurid guff about Catholics before he can take the throne. What does he say? Oh, well, it's it's it's all written down from 1702 or something like that.

[00:21:16]Horrible stuff about Catholics. He has to read this out. And I just want you to kill all the Catholics, get rid of them.

[00:21:21]Not quite kill them, but I mean it was No Catholic can go to the throne go on the throne.

[00:21:26]Now, suppose suppose he wants to take the Catholic faith. I mean, he couldn't he couldn't be on the throne. Well, that's nonsensical in 2025 2026 to have that sort of arrangement in place. But it's a it's a Protestant country.

[00:21:38]Shouldn't the leader be a Protestant?

[00:21:39]But you're saying you're saying to me the monarchy is multicultural. It's not it's not it's not I don't mean to say that. Sorry. I mean to say in our world of multiculturalism where everyone's so everything. I think we need something to actually bring us together. I'm quite anti-multiculturalism. I think I think we need to have something that holds us together. Otherwise, what is a nation?

[00:21:56]Well, the if you want the monarchy to hold us together, the monarchy has to represent society as a whole and it doesn't. It represents a narrow strand of people with wealth. It represents the Protestant community and not the Catholic or or any other community in religious terms. And if you look at the way it conducts itself, it is not one that in terms of the exemptions it has from taxation and so on, is not reflective of society as a whole. It really isn't.

[00:22:22]That's a problem.

[00:22:23]It's a big problem.

[00:22:25]I don't know. Yeah, I I don't I don't I don't mind it being Protestant. I mean, I'm not from a Protestant family. It's all but I sort of we did the at school we had to you know, Our Father who art in heaven and all that all that stuff.

[00:22:35]>> Yes. I sort of you know, looking but I didn't enjoy it very much at the time but looking back I sort of feel like well, something that we all did together cuz what else what else do we have?

[00:22:45]Well, we have we have fantastic literary and artistic people in this country that we can all admire.

[00:22:53]I'm just today as we record this looking into Paul McCartney's new album.

[00:22:59]Paul McCartney is a brilliant symbol of this country. You know, everybody near enough loves The Beatles and the that's a great advert for Britain. That's a good point. All right, I'll take that.

[00:23:08]Paul McCartney's fair enough. Um today's news at least I was seeing this morning Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. Do you know who who I'm talking about? His property company was losing money before he married Beatrice.

[00:23:21]Then turned over 2.2 million pounds after the wedding.

[00:23:25]Is that a coincidence or is there a broader pattern of people monetizing proximity to the Yorks? Well, I'm sure that people monetize their proximity to the royal family generally and the royal family itself monetizes it. Sometimes it's deliberate and and and uh I wouldn't quite say callous but highly calculated. Another times it just can't be helped because that's the way it is. And even if you have exempt yourself like Harry and Meghan have done in the States, you know, they still they do not mention the royal family but they still trade on it subliminally.

[00:23:57]They can't help that in a way and and the public at large who sign up to pay over the odds for some bit of jam that Meghan's been marketing, you know, do so because she's in some way linked to the royal family. That's what they do. I had some of that jam. Did you?

[00:24:11]Yeah, it was nice. I mean it was like it's jam, isn't it? I'm sure there are connoisseurs who are listening and don't you know, purists who are saying no, there's jam but then there's jam. But for me it's jam's jam, right? Well, near enough. There is jam which is better than other jam but however, I'm not a jam expert either. What would make jam better than other jam? Would it be >> Well, I mean sweeter No, the amount of fruit in it I think is the answer. More fruit in it? More fruit and and less sugar and everything else. Just extremely fruit and but maybe better >> I'm not I'm not a jam expert. What I would say is that it goes into this in the book in my book here is that if you look at how much Charles is monetizing from his properties, he's got many many properties.

[00:24:50]He's now open to the public. You can now go and get lunch somewhere or other. You can stay overnight at the Castle of May.

[00:24:56]All these kind of things. And they're all hugely expensive. Mhm. I mean, they're far more expensive than if they weren't attached to him.

[00:25:03]You know, the the amount of money you're charged at the Castle of Mey is well in excess of what you would charge for another castle down the road. Uh and that's because of the Charles connection. Um so, he may not say that that I'm sure he doesn't say that, but that's the that's the consequence of what he's doing.

[00:25:19]Uh he's even charging a great deal of money for his Transylvanian properties, which he has.

[00:25:24]Which are very close to uh Count Dracula's old place and the blood sucking bit of uh Transylvania where Charles is.

[00:25:32]He's got properties out in Transylvania, doesn't he? Didn't know that. It's It's Yeah, it was ridiculous amounts of of of wealth they seem to have. And And then you mentioned earlier, was it the Duchy of Lancaster Lanc- What was it? Duchy of Lancaster Duchy of Cornwall are the two Duchies.

[00:25:44]And And so, these are How How are they Are we giving money to that? Is that our taxpayer money going towards that?

[00:25:49]>> That's um That's So, if you look at the Duchies in particular, the Duchies Well, I'd have to go back in history and give you a Mhm. um the the connection. In 1760, um when the royal family was basically bankrupt, the king at that point had been financing the elements of state, including the armed forces and the civil service and customs and all the other things you have to exercise people have to pay for in those days. And obviously, that was a big drain. And he would get some money coming in from um uh from um uh well, there was some financial streams of money coming in from excise and so on. But it wasn't enough. So, in 1760, a deal was made to um uh whereby the the Parliament would give him a sum of money every year called the civil list.

[00:26:33]And in return for that, the crown lands would be which which the king owned would be given to the public. And the Crown Estate then was formed. It wasn't called the Crown Estate then, but now called the Crown Estate. Was formed and it became a public body.

[00:26:47]And also, the excise streams of income went to the government at the time. And that was a deal, and that lasted from 1760 to 2011. Now, the only two bits that were missed out were the two Duchies, which had been part of this overall package before 1760.

[00:27:04]And they were not transferred, largely it seems because they were basically worthless at the time. I mean, one of them, I think I think it was the Duchy of Lancaster, produced a profit of less than 20 pounds that year. I mean, even in those days, that's not really a lot of money.

[00:27:17]So, they were basically ignored. There was then an attempt to bring them into the Crown Estate in about 1832.

[00:27:25]Um and that was kiboshed because the government of the day wanted the support of of the King, William the IV, um to push through the um the change to the the the voting arrangements in Britain to allow more people to vote, um the Great Reform Act. Uh and in return and the King wasn't in favor of that, so in return for that, they they backed off on the Duchies uh as a kind of quid pro quo.

[00:27:49]But the Duchies have always been regarded as public bodies. Um there's a there there's a government uh bill, an Act of Parliament from the 1830s, which regulates the Duchies, which is still extant. Now, the Duchy of Lancaster has a minister. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is in the cabinet.

[00:28:08]Um you know, and the Duchy of Cornwall was was called a government department by government.

[00:28:14]So, there's no question in my mind that these are public properties like the Crown Estate is.

[00:28:20]And then the money which comes in from those Duchies should go direct to the Treasury. Well, over the years, the royal family has managed to persuade people, wrongly in my view, that these are so-called private estates.

[00:28:32]And as a consequence of that, um William pockets about 25 million a pound a year profit from the Duchy of Cornwall, which should go to the Treasury.

[00:28:40]Um and Charles pockets about the same amount of money from the Duchy of Lancaster, which should go to the Treasury. These are royal slush funds, and they end up with a a salary coming in on top of all the other expenses which which government gets gives to the royal family. On top of all that other stuff, they get about 50 million quid between them for doing nothing.

[00:29:01]And, you know, very nice, too. But each of those two people, Charles and William, gets about a salary about 100 times a prime minister's salary.

[00:29:09]For doing nothing. And this this comes then from in the the areas in Lancaster and Cornwall.

[00:29:14]>> Well, of course, beyond that. I mean, the Duchy of Cornwall owns Oval Cricket Ground. Ah. Which enables the um Which is in London. Which is London. They own quite a lot of London, in So it's not really about Cornwall specifically. It's a sort of a They own lots of Devon and they own places all over the country. I see. I mean, the the Oval Cricket Ground enables the Prince of Wales to hit the hit the see hit the electric for six, doesn't it? In terms of the money he gets from them.

[00:29:40]>> [laughter] >> It's it's extraordinary, really. And that that money could be helping our economy somehow.

[00:29:44]>> It could be. And of course, it's not even it's even worse than that, because the the Duchy of Cornwall and Duchy of Lancaster, they say they're private estates, which in my view they aren't.

[00:29:53]Mhm. But then they don't pay corporation tax. They don't pay capital gains tax.

[00:29:57]So, you know, on the one hand they argue over a special case, on the other hand, oh no, no, we're private. We can't be subject to any particular interference with our arrangements.

[00:30:06]>> That's mad. Uh that's how they are. And they play this public private thing all the time. Public when it suits them, private when it suits them. That's what they've done. That's one of the ways they've accumulated their wealth.

[00:30:16]I mean, if you look at how they've accumulated wealth over the years, from bankrupt then to massively wealthy now.

[00:30:21]And Charles is worth at least 1.8 billion. At least 1.8 billion. That's the estimate from the Guardian, and a similar estimate from Channel 5, actually. They both came out with the same figure. I think it's more than that, because I think there are overseas investments which they haven't taken account of. I'd put Charles's wealth north of 2 billion, at least.

[00:30:39]Right. Now, where has it all come from?

[00:30:41]It's come from First of all, it's come from the public purse and and generous civil list and and sovereign grants allocations every year. Then it's come from exemptions from tax, which no one else has. They don't pay inheritance tax from from monarch to monarch. Charles inherited from the Queen um all sorts of private issue. Don't talk about Buckingham Palace and stuff, which are under the state, if you like, but private possessions. Um he inherited over half a billion pounds of jewelry from the Queen. Half a billion jewelry.

[00:31:14]He inherited a stamp collection worth 100 million pounds. He inherited a string of race courses race horses. He inherited a collection of Faberge eggs, money, paintings. None of this was subject to inheritance tax. Why not? Why is the richest person in the country, near enough, the only person exempt from inheritance tax? Why can that be? So, that's the exemption from taxation.

[00:31:35]Between 1952 and 1993, the Queen paid no income tax at all. She paid no taxes of any sort, apart from I think kind of poll tax somewhere as an individual for where she was living. I mean, this is ridiculous.

[00:31:48]So, exemption from tax is one thing, taking money from the public purse as through the civil list and sovereign grants is another.

[00:31:55]Thirdly, there's there's the question of the gifts which come in.

[00:31:59]Gifts which were given to the state, to the nation which they say, "Oh, that's nice. I'll have that. Thank you very much." And they keep them as private gifts, adding to the to their collection.

[00:32:09]Um Then there's the abuse of expenses. I know about this because I'm the MP who tabled a freedom of information request to about MP's expenses and that blew the whole thing open. Well, back in the Victorian times, Albert, Prince Albert, went cap in hand to the government and said, "We haven't got enough money for the Queen to do her duties." And of course, the government was embarrassed about this, so they gave them more money.

[00:32:30]They didn't need no money. They didn't need more money at all. That money was used to buy Sandringham and Balmoral Um, which are now called private properties.

[00:32:39]Well, if you get money from the government for public duties and use it for your private benefit, that's called fiddling your expenses.

[00:32:46]That's what that was. So, that's all money which would come into the royal family as well. So, you look at all this accumulation of dodgy stuff. Then there's the ability of the royal family, the king and the prince of Wales, to influence legislation. They can influence legislation before Parliament ever sees it through something called King's Consent and Prince of Wales' Consent, which lets them um, influence legislation that disadvantages their personal property. That's what it's about. If something is going to disadvantage their personal property, they have to be consulted on it. And when they come back and say, "Oh, I don't like that very much."

[00:33:21]You know, sometimes little things. When it was a question of child maintenance changes, the Queen exempted herself from that cuz she was frightened that she'd have to pay a bit more to her staff. You know, just all these things add up. And you end up with an accumulation of of wonderful little wheezes and a bank balance of billions of pounds.

[00:33:39]It does The way you say it, the way you explain it, it does make me go, "Gosh, this this is this ain't right, you know?"

[00:33:45]And then there's part of me still going, "Ah, yeah, but I like a kind of I just feel like if they were to end up losing their money, say, and just becoming like any other family, and then which I I it's what what is what are what are we Do you Do you get Do you have any sympathy for what I'm saying?"

[00:34:00]>> Well, look, I mean, as I said to you, you know, we end up with a proper reformed monarchy which cost a great deal less. £500 million a year, our monarchy. For that for one family, £500 million a year.

[00:34:11]Uh, the next nearest is the Dutch monarchy which costs less than £50 million a year. The Danish, I think, cost less than £10 million a year. Ours is hugely expensive. So, that all needs to change. The tax exemptions need to change. Uh, at the back of my book there's 25 recommendations as to what needs to change, um, which the royal family themselves with of consent would adopt because the tree that doesn't bend will break and there's a lot now a lot more attention now being paid to the royal family in terms of their shortcomings and you know little limited time to sort this out before the public see we've had enough because the amount of public support for the monarchy is now down quite significantly from where it was in the 1980s. In the 1980s it was 83% in favor but now it's down to a 50%.

[00:34:58]That's quite a big drop in quite a short period of time.

[00:35:01]They're on borrowed time.

[00:35:03]And I have to say that we're not seeing from Charles this slimmed down monarchy which he promised. Okay, we've got fewer people in the balcony the balcony at Buckingham Palace mainly by default because Queen and Prince Philip have died and Andrew's persona non grata Harry and Meghan have gone off to California what we haven't got slimmed down is the bill. The bill's going up. And this is very dangerous for them.

[00:35:27]And I don't want to bore you with statistics but let me give you one. In 2011 the last year of the civil list before it changed they got 7.9 million direct from the government. Forget all the other benefits but just that one issue 7.9 million in terms of the civil list.

[00:35:43]This year under the replacement sovereign grant they get 132.1 million.

[00:35:49]What? 132.1 million from 7.9. This is over 15 years. You know, who else in the country has had that massive increase?

[00:35:57]And I say to you Andrew, you don't have to be a republican to think that's obscene. Yeah. It does it does sound obscene. Does is Andrew now do we know that he's cut off financially now? Well, that's been that's been the scuttlebutt from the palace so I imagine it's true.

[00:36:12]That suddenly he's going to find himself going how do I make any money?

[00:36:16]Well, he could I don't know.

[00:36:17]I don't feel sorry for him.

[00:36:19]>> [laughter] >> But I've heard he's refused to leave the Royal Lodge is that true? Well, no he has been forced out of the Royal Lodge and he's now he's now up in he's temporarily in Wood Farm which is where Prince Philip saw out his days.

[00:36:33]I noticed by the way that this week that a huge Anglo-Saxon mobile home has appeared next to Wood Farm which is where the staff are living because although he's got I think five bedrooms at Wood Farm it's obviously not enough to house the staff there in an outer mobile home and I don't think there's been planning permission sought for that mobile home which should have been something to be corrected but um Do they hate you then more? Do they know Have you heard that they are getting wind of your books?

[00:36:59]>> I don't know. I don't I don't really care. Yeah, but it'd be I mean you would care. It would be interesting, wouldn't it? To to hear like oh apparently Charles is pissed off. Well, I mean it's the are they are but I mean you know actually I know I know it sounds peculiar but if they listen to me it might help them.

[00:37:14]Not just me but other people making similar arguments because they need to they need to change and they're not changing. And by the way just on your on your point about would we would we miss them?

[00:37:25]Um there's no reason why we shouldn't keep all the bits and pieces that the average Briton likes. We can still have changing the guard. We can still have you know gold carriages running through the streets or whatever happens to be.

[00:37:35]You know all these things can carry on.

[00:37:36]There's no problem with that if we want to have that. And if you look at the palace in Europe with the most visitors where is that? It's the Palace of Versailles.

[00:37:46]1848 the French got rid of their monarchy and the building is now open all the year round for visitors. Our building Buckingham Palace isn't open all the year round but it would be if the royal family wasn't there. I just worry about the loss of our culture, you know, and I get your point about McCartney but he'll also, you know, he doesn't he's getting on as well.

[00:38:05]Uh and and it's just evolving into a kind of just this big airport that's like every other airport. And yes, oh there's there's a palace like Versailles that's oh this is what it used to be like but no longer having something >> French have handled these matters rather better than we have in my view.

[00:38:20]And on a serious point there's there's a question to be asked. Perhaps it's a dissertation for somebody to write as to to what extent the royal family benefits the country and what extent it disbenefits the country.

[00:38:33]And you might say, "Well, it's obvious because people heard of it. They they they see films about it. They come to Britain for tourism and so on." You might say that's an obvious point.

[00:38:42]Um notwithstanding the financial issues I raised Sure. today. But I think there's a there's a wider point which I don't blame the royal family for, which is that Britain has not moved on in my view properly from the Second World War.

[00:38:57]Uh we've not recognized that we're no longer uh a great world power like America and Russia.

[00:39:04]You know, we're no longer at Yalta when Churchill sat down with Stalin and Roosevelt. You know, that's not where we are in the world anymore. And I think there's been a reluctance in Britain to accept that.

[00:39:16]And I think the the fact that the royal family is there and the monarchy is there has given uh succor to those who don't want to move on, who don't want to recognize reality, and we still want to pretend that we're still there.

[00:39:26]Uh that's not their fault, but I think that's one of the consequences that we have.

[00:39:30]Dean Acheson, the US Secretary of State in '60 '62, said Britain's lost an empire and not yet found a role. And if that was true then, it's even truer now.

[00:39:40]Um but what what's the other What's the alternative then? Just accept that we're not this big power anymore and then and then Then we're then we're we're a very nice country. I love my country. We're a very nice country and we're an important European power.

[00:39:52]Um in the same way as France is or Germany is. And we have to accept that that we're in we're in league two now.

[00:39:59]We're not in league one. You know, league one is is is America and Russia and China.

[00:40:04]You know, league two are are the countries in in Europe. And you know, Europe tries to deal with that sensibly by having a a come together, a conglomeration of countries in the European Union. And of course we've left that. Now, but we hang on to the rules because it gives us a semblance of of of of power past.

[00:40:24]>> Mhm. Well, in a sense, why not? Why not have some aspiration in that sense?

[00:40:28]Well, nothing wrong with it except that it stops us seeing our real position in in the world and pretending that everything's okay when it isn't. And I think I you know, a dose of reality is what this country needs to adjust itself to where we are now. How is um Andrew being pushed out? How's that affected Beatrice and Eugenie? Are they still part of the royal family? They've still got their royal titles and it's interesting that the um allocation of titles is is not set down by uh any legislation. It's a matter almost of choice of the parents. For example, Princess Anne ensured her children didn't have titles. She wanted them to have a normal life. Oh, wow. Um so, you don't have to have titles. Um they've still got HRH.

[00:41:10]Um and it did mean, for example, that they were subject to police protection when you didn't need to be, frankly. A lot of money was spent. Millions were spent on protecting them when there was no threat, possible threat to them. And they were going around enjoying themselves as young people do in discos and everything else. You know, so um that comes from the HRH status. Mhm.

[00:41:32]Um I don't think it should be HRH. I I think a a a minimal royal family, which is what I think we should have if we have one, should be the king and the queen, William and Kate, and their children. And that should be it. And the rest of them should go and get a job and do something else. Um and that's not what we have. We've got a kind of mixture of of some people being in some people being out for no apparent reason.

[00:41:55]But they have got questions to answer, I'm afraid, because I feel sorry for them in one sense. I mean, they've had Andrew and Fergie as parents. Well, I mean, [clears throat] by all accounts, they're better parents than they were members of the royal family. But nevertheless, you know, they've been in the public eye. They've been disgraced. They've disgraced themselves, actually, but it's now been revealed. And it must be difficult for the girls to or women, sorry, to deal with that situation. However, we knew that they've taken advantage of their dad's connections around the world. So, I'm afraid they've got questions to answer, too.

[00:42:28]And they've kept themselves in a very low profile, but I think at some point they're going to be dragged into things, and I I believe, actually, Andrew Lownie is producing a book on at least an update on his book, which will have more information about those two in it. Quick plug for Andrew Lownie.

[00:42:42]>> [laughter] >> Bloody hell. That's interesting, though.

[00:42:44]And are they still receiving any of the sort of Duchy of Lancaster money?

[00:42:48]>> don't. I mean, but they they get money from the but they get money from from their parents. Mhm. I see. But, of course, they're both married into rich families. They're not They're not short of cash. I I Yes, that's right.

[00:42:58]Andrew was sort of arrested, wasn't he? He was in a I guess it was a prison cell in the police station. He's not going Is he going to go to a actual prison? Or is it a cell in the >> Well, I mean, we don't know. I mean, he's been He was arrested. And the reason he was arrested, I think, was partly it to enable the police to have a reason to inspect his properties and go through his properties. He could have been coming He could have been in interviewed under caution, and that wouldn't have enabled the police to go through and rake through his properties.

[00:43:25]The interesting question there is what have they found? We don't know.

[00:43:29]Have they found information which supports the allegation he was misusing public office?

[00:43:36]Have they, in fact, found other material which relates to treatable acts?

[00:43:41]Have they even found material which is related to what Epstein was doing?

[00:43:45]We don't know.

[00:43:46]But, I mean, they've had an opportunity to study these matters. Mhm.

[00:43:50]What they will then do is assess the evidence. If they believe there is a a case to take it further, then they submit the evidence to the public prosecution.

[00:43:58]And then they decide whether or not it's in the public interest to pursue the case. That's for anybody That's how it works, the system. Remains to be seen.

[00:44:07]I've got another question for you, but first tell me where we can get your book.

[00:44:11]You can get my book in all good book shops and some bad ones, too, no doubt.

[00:44:16]Sure. Uh you can get it on Amazon. I don't I prefer people to buy at book shops. I like book shops. And Amazon is a an American outfit that doesn't always pay taxes properly in this country. But you can get it on Amazon. Uh and I'm happy to say it's selling it's selling well. Okay, brilliant. We'll we'll try to get uh some links down below that aren't from that particular American uh Thank you.

[00:44:36]>> non-tax-paying Indeed, it's difficult because so much of this is [clears throat] a separate issue, but so much of Britain is now owned by by Americans. Um far more than than you would know.

[00:44:46]There's a wonderful book called Vassal State which sets out in horrific detail.

[00:44:51]I mean, I think Waterstone's bookstores are owned by Americans now, so you can't escape them.

[00:44:56]Um but hey, there we are. Okay. [snorts] Um and yes, if you're going to promote that, thank you very much. And also uh my new Substack channel. Yes, we'll put that down below as well so people can follow your up-to-the-up-to-date writings. Um who is a heretic, another heretic that you admire?

[00:45:11]Um I've always had a great admiration, she's dead now, for Helen [clears throat] Suzman. Mhm. Uh I think I may have mentioned this last time, but Helen Suzman was um this liberal in South Africa during the apartheid years, uh white woman, who um found herself elected to the South African Parliament.

[00:45:30]And I think at that time she was the only liberal amongst a whole lot of really quite nasty National Party people.

[00:45:38]And I think the only woman, I'm standing to be corrected on that, but certainly an absolute minority.

[00:45:44]And the South African National Party, whatever you say about them, and they were a horrible lot, did actually respect parliamentary procedure. So, she was able to raise things. But I mean, she was treated really badly by them in terms of just um how they used to be rude to her, they tried to minimize her.

[00:45:59]And she stood up for what she believed in on her own as a woman in that situation.

[00:46:04]And she also went out and and met all the black people and Asian people who have been forgotten about by by the National Party in that apartheid time.

[00:46:13]And she said, you know, I represent my constituency here in I think it was Cape Town, might be wrong. Um uh but I also represent all these people in in South Africa who have got no MP and no vote.

[00:46:24]And she was a very very brave woman and um I think she's a you know she she didn't angle for that, but she found herself in a position and she just you know, she rose for the occasion to the occasion fantastically well and very bravely. Fascinating Heretics. Helen Suzman. Helen Suzman. People, please uh hit the like button and and and also I'm going to I've got a couple questions from you guys for Norman just now, just a couple questions on Substack that's Andrew Gold Heretics.com. So, I'll see you over there. But as I say, hit that like button and keep [snorts] watching this show.