Last year, there was some actual investigative reporting around royal finances, namely the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster. The Duchy of Cornwall “funds” the operations of the Prince of Wales and his family. I always thought that the duchy was mostly made up of commercial real estate. Turns out, that duchy is made up of a blend of drafty, moldy residences, seabeds being rented to the navy, and many other schemes in which British taxpayers pay exorbitant “rent” on what should be publicly-owned land. One of the most galling examples was Dartmoor prison, which was closed last year. The government still holds a “lease” with the Duchy of Cornwall on the land in which the prison sits. That lease means that British taxpayers are on the hook for £1.5m a year for the next 24 years, all for a prison which was closed because of the insane levels of radon. Now it looks like everything is at a stalemate behind the scenes, and the village of Princetown is losing millions in tourism because of it.
The village of Princetown sits surrounded by the desolate beauty of Dartmoor national park. It should, in theory, be a hub for the more than 2 million people a year who come to explore the bogs, granite tors and windswept moorland that in part inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write The Hound of the Baskervilles. Today it more closely resembles a mining community after the pits closed. Dartmoor prison, which provided jobs for many residents, has been closed since last summer after the discovery of dangerous levels of radon gas. The prison officers’ club is derelict. Quiet streets bear testimony to the ghostly finger of financial fate.
The fate of the prison has not dented the profits of the Duchy of Cornwall, however, which owns the land the village sits on. The taxpayer is still paying Prince William’s estate £1.5m a year to lease the abandoned prison, and is set to do so for another 24 years.
The government may soon face an even bigger bill: about 500 former inmates and staff who worked at the jail are planning to sue the Ministry of Justice, alleging they have been exposed to radon levels up to 14 times the legal limit, the Observer can reveal. Solicitor Mladen Kesar is representing the group. Of those bringing the case, 10 people have had cancer and, of those, two have since died. Others report symptoms they believe are linked to radon poisoning, including shortness of breath, wheezing and nosebleeds. Many worry that it may take several years for potential health effects to show, including lung cancer, stomach cancer and emphysema.
The village – which is owned by William’s £1.1bn Duchy of Cornwall estate and stands as the highest settlement on the moor at 1,430ft above sea level – and its surrounding area have suffered an estimated £30m hit to the local economy after a disastrous combination of events.
Many of them stem from the prison closure but there are other factors too, including financial cuts at the national park authority. The national park’s visitor centre, housed in the historic former Duchy Hotel where Conan Doyle stayed and started writing The Hound of the Baskervilles, is due to close later this year because of a cash crisis at the park authority and mounting repair bills for the building. The youth centre has run into financial problems, the arts festival has been cancelled, and a long-promised new tourist attraction, a distillery, has failed to materialise and is still short of £5m in startup cash.
Locals believe tens of thousands of tourist visits have been lost, despite the raw beauty of the surroundings, and local businesses are reporting a subsequent drop in trade. Rory Atton, who owns the Dewerstone organic clothing and coffee shop in the village centre, sees one common problem: nearly all the affected buildings and organisations are on leases from the duchy, requiring them, rather than the duchy, to pay for any repairs or improvements. Villagers have questions for William, who became Duke of Cornwall when his father acceded the throne and thus took over the duchy. “I think he might have been to some surrounding farms, but he’s not been to the village to talk to us,” Atton said. “Many people around here are ex-services and tend to be supportive of the monarchy, but they are growing increasingly frustrated with Prince William. What is his plan? Is there a plan? Because right now no one can see it.”
“The youth centre has run into financial problems, the arts festival has been cancelled, and a long-promised new tourist attraction, a distillery, has failed to materialise and is still short of £5m in startup cash.” Charity starts at home, and it’s bonkers that William is too lazy, incompetent or incapable of doing something to help the people who all have valid leases with the duchy, or help this struggling town. How much money does he blow on his dumbass Earthshot Prize ceremonies? Millions of pounds, for no reason other than “William wants to hang out with celebrities.” Maybe if Ed Sheeran went to Princetown, then William would actually care. And I’m sorry, I’m still not over the fact that the government still has to pay the duchy for a now-closed Dartmoor prison.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
