GUEST 04 Oct 06 - 01:32 PM

Go and take a look at The Crown Estate website. Currently valued, according to the 2006 accounts, at just under £6 Billion, all profit goes directly to the Treasury (For 2006 that amounted to £190.8 Million).

Here is a small taster for you:

"Although the ownership of some property can be traced back to Edward the Confessor, the estate as a whole essentially dates from 1066. After the Norman Conquest, all the land belonged to William "in right of The Crown" because he was King. Despite centuries of change in law and custom, the underlying ownership of The Crown still exists and there is always a presumption in favour of The Crown unless it can be proved that the land belongs to someone else. (Hence the importance of making a Will - Teribus)

The Sovereign's estates had always been used to raise revenue, and over time large areas were granted to nobles. The estate fluctuated in size and value but by 1760, when George III acceded to the throne, the asset had been reduced to a small area producing little income - revenue which George III needed to fulfil the Sovereign's fiscal responsibilities to the nation.

By that time taxes had become the prime source of revenue for the United Kingdom and Parliament administered the country, so an agreement was reached that The Crown Lands would be managed on behalf of the Government and the surplus revenue would go to the Treasury. In return the King would receive a fixed annual payment - today known as the Civil List. This agreement has, at the beginning of each reign, been repeated by every succeeding Sovereign.

In 1955 a Government Committee under the Chairmanship of Sir Malcolm Trustram Eve recommended that to avoid confusion between Government property and Crown land, the latter should be renamed The Crown Estate and should be managed by an independent board. These recommendations were implemented by The Crown Estate Acts of 1956 and 1961.

Under the Act of 1961, the estate is managed by a Board who have a duty to maintain and enhance the value of the estate and the return obtained from it, but with due regard to the requirements of good management."

With what is stated above taken into account let's take a look at some of your contentions:

"The crown IS the queen. Or the king." Correct, but since the days of George III, The Crown/King/Queen has never had any control over what would later be termed as The Crown Estate, instead He/She gets paid a fixed amount each year by the Government. The private wealth of the current Sovereign is basically down to the efforts of Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg, who was an extremely capable administrator and who was grossly under-employed. As a result of this he turned his attention and energies into making the British Royal Family more solvent (First purchase was the Sandringham Estate)

"The queen (crown) owns the whole of England." Incorrect as detailed above. In fact I have two pieces of paper that clearly state that there are two tiny lumps of England that I own outright. Now were I foolish enough not to make "A Last Will and Testament" and I had no heirs and there was no claim against my estate by any third party, at my demise my estate would go to the Crown - it has to go to somebody.

"The Queen has literal life and death rights over you people." Incorrect, this "right" was first shackled at Runnimede under the reign of King John, it was successively restricted through the course of history (English Civil War; Restoration; Glorious Revolution, etc.)

"Witness David Kelly. A half-dozen black-suited men seen dumping him in a park and it's ruled a suicide." - Complete and utter twaddle. Where did this come from The National Enquirer? Please provide some form of substantiation for your claim relating to these six "black-suited men".