Royal estate tenants reveal hidden problems in Prince William's property empire
Channel 4 investigation shows housing issues on Duchy of Cornwall properties including mold and poor insulation. The royal estate with 600+ rentals brings £23.6m yearly profit to **Prince William**
The Duchy of Cornwall owned by Prince William faces hard questions about its rental homes conditions. A joint Channel 4-Mirror probe found issues with mold black spots and poor insulation in properties that bring millions to the royal estate
It gets miserably cold in winter‚ I can only heat two rooms in my home. The Duchy does not understand
The estate (which became Williams after his father got the crown about 2 yrs ago) manages over 600 rental homes and made £23.6m last year; its a centuries-old business dating to mid-14th century
The investigation discovered some interesting facts:
- 1 in 7 homes dont meet basic energy rules
- Many buildings are over 100 yrs old
- Some tenants cant heat their homes properly
- Black mold appears in multiple properties
The Duchy also has some big-money deals with government groups: they get £37m from Dartmoor Prison lease; charge the navy £1m-plus for using jetties‚ and make money letting the Army train on their land-space
One ex-tenant Claire Williams (who lived in an Exeter farm-house for 20+ years) showed pictures of black mold that grew below ground-level. “Iʼve complained about it for 21 years“ she said - though the Duchy says she didnt follow payment plans and wouldnt let fix-it crews in
The Duchys spokesman talked about their plans: they want to make everything net-zero by 2032 and help tenants with mental-health support. They say Prince William started big changes when he took over‚ mixing business with community good
