Prince William has become his father’s new landlord and will receive up to £700,000 a year from King Charles for the monarch’s Highgrove home, a source has revealed.
The new Prince of Wales, 40, now controls the Duchy of Cornwall and its £345million property portfolio – including Charles’ beloved 18th-century Gloucestershire estate.
The duchy, which owns 128,000 acres of land and reportedly had an income of £21million last year, will be passed on to the eldest son of a reigning British monarch.
As such, the King must now pay hundreds of thousands of pounds to his eldest son to redeem the long-term lease he has signed for Highgrove House, which was bought by the Duchy in 1980.
A source told The Sun: “The King has a long lease and pays rent on Highgrove House and the surrounding land.”
Prince William has become his father’s new landlord and will receive up to £700,000 a year from King Charles (pictured together on September 18, 2022) for the monarch’s home in Highgrove, a source has revealed
The new Prince of Wales, 40, now controls the Duchy of Cornwall and its £345million property portfolio – including Charles’ beloved 18th-century Gloucestershire estate (pictured).
The legacy of the duchy has made the new Prince of Wales the largest private landowner in Britain, with £1.2 billion in assets across 23 counties, including farms, housing estates, seven castles, forests, coasts and commercial properties.
The Duchy owns most of the 200+ Isles of Scilly and Crags off the coast of Cornwall, including almost a third of the houses on the five inhabited islands of St Mary’s, Tresco, St Martin’s, St Agnes and Bryher.
Tourism accounts for more than 85 percent of the local economy, with visitors drawn by seals, dolphins, puffins and rare flowers. The Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust pays the Duchy an annual lease of a single daffodil.
Elsewhere, among the Duchy’s 70,000 acres in Devon lies the property of Dartmoor Prison, whose inmates over the years have included London gangsters Frank “The Mad Axeman” Mitchell and Jack “The Hat” McVitie.
The impressive property portfolio also includes the Oval Cricket Ground in south London.
The royal residence Charles is said to be most attached to is Highgrove, where he retired for a day after his mother Queen Elizabeth II died last month.
It was his weekend home for the first few years of his marriage to Princess Diana, but the princess never returned after their split in 1992.
Charles developed his love of gardening at Highgrove (pictured with Princes William and Harry and Princess Diana in the flower meadow)
Queen Consort Camilla stands outside Highgrove, Charles’ family home near Tetbury in Gloucestershire in 2020
It was here that Charles developed his love of gardening with a stunning transformation of the neglected site.
The property is also close to Ray Mill House, the private home of Queen Consort Camilla in Reybridge near Lacock, Wiltshire – and is now a place dear to the King and his wife.
The estate naturally boasts a residence of suitable stature for any reigning monarch.
A nine bedroom, six bathroom mansion and once the home of Maurice Macmillan, son of former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, features beautiful interiors by the late decorator Robert Kime.
But the property is also as modern and eco-friendly as possible, fitted with solar panels and a natural waste water filtration system, no doubt to the King’s wishes.
Still, it’s the gardens that are perhaps the most important aspect of the property – for they’ve long been a key occupation of Charles; When he bought the 18th-century house in 1980, they were unkempt and overgrown, according to the Mirror.
The then Prince is enjoying his wild garden and spring daffodils on his estate in April 2022. The gardens now boast many rare trees and flowers
Prince Charles tended his herb garden in Highgrove in 1986. The king has long spoken of his love of nature and the need to take care of the environment
But over the last four decades he has transformed them with the help of highly respected gardeners such as Rosemary Verey and Miriam Rothschild.
Not only is there a large number of rare trees, flowers and heirloom seeds, but there is also a wild garden, a formal garden and a walled kitchen garden.
Another sanctuary is the Woodland Garden, which features two classic green oak temples and a stumpery – a garden feature that resembles a rock garden but is made from parts of dead trees, specifically stumps.
These gardens are so impressive that they now attract 30,000 visitors a year, with tours lasting just under two hours.
In the 2014 book Highgrove: A Garden Celebrated, Charles wrote that his efforts were “a very small attempt to heal the appalling myopic damage done to the soil, the landscape, and our own souls.”
He added: “Some might not like it, others might scoff at the fact that it’s not in the real world or that it’s just an expensive treat. Whatever the case, my abiding hope is that those who visit the garden will find something to inspire, excite, fascinate, or soothe them.”
As a further tribute to her, the king recently created a perfume inspired by the floral scents of summer with the help of British perfume house Penhaligon’s.
Called Penhaligon’s Highgrove Bouquet Eau de Parfum, it is described as a “fresh, confident burst of warm energy” that opens with “vivid lavender and geranium” with the scent of “blossoming weeping silver lime”.
So important are these gardens and outdoor areas that the King has expanded the estate over the years and now owns around 1,900 acres of strictly organic land.
Conveniently, Camilla shares a love of gardening with her husband. She recently told Homes and Gardens magazine how much she enjoyed planting, weeding and just being creative.
She said: “It’s just one of the most relaxing things to do. Go to the garden, go on.’