There are a few areas where I feel really sorry for Prince Charles. One of those areas is that he’ll have to discontinue work on so many of his most successful passion projects in the near future, as he takes on more and more responsibilities for the crown and becomes the de facto king regent. We’ve heard for several years that Charles really wanted to hand off The Prince’s Trust to Harry or William, and neither one of them wanted it. So the trust will continue without the involvement of Charles or his immediate family. I have a feeling that something very similar will happen to Charles’ wildly successful Duchy Originals line, which is now Waitrose Duchy Organic. Charles simply won’t have the time to manage the huge farm which supplies the label. So he’s giving up the lease on the main farm next year, rather than handing off the running of the farm and the Duchy label to William. My guess? William didn’t want it.
Prince Charles is not renewing the lease on one of the farms that supplies his luxury ‘Waitrose Duchy Organic’ food brand to upmarket supermarkets Waitrose and Ocado. The 71-year-old royal, who created the popular high-end brand 35 years ago, will not continue the lease on Home Farm, on the Highgrove Estate in Gloucestershire, when it runs out in April and will turn his attentions to 2,000 acres of organic farmland on Sandringham’s Estate instead.
It’s thought, as Charles prepares to take the throne, that the Sandringham acreage, gifted to Charles from Prince Philip in 2019, could be easier to manage than the diverse 900-acre Highgrove Home Farm, which the royal currently leases. Waitrose currently has a £3million-a-year contract to sell Waitrose Duchy Organic products, which Charles originally named Duchy Originals when the brand began four decades ago. Set up by Prince Charles in 1990, it remains a separate entity to the Duchy of Cornwall despite the similarities in name.
The Prince will continue to operate the popular luxury food brand despite no longer leasing Home Farm. In 2018, the prince’s charitable foundation earned £3.2million from profits made by the company. A new sheep farm would see the Prince oversee a vastly reduced amount of livestock. Home Farm currently breeds Gloucester, Shetland and British White cattle plus Tamworth pigs and Irish Moiled pigs.
Charles has made the difficult decision to walk away from Home Farm by not renewing the lease when it comes up in April. A Clarence House spokesman told MailOnline: ‘The Prince of Wales will not be renewing his lease on Home Farm, but will continue to farm organically at Sandringham.’
Sandringham looks like a viable alternative for Charles to continue his interest in organic farming; he took over the 2,000-acre estate in Norfolk from Prince Philip last year, and the farm achieved organic status earlier this summer.
It’s confusing, but here’s what I think is happening: Charles will continue the Duchy Organic brand, but the farm supplying the label will be changed to the Sandringham acreage, which Charles has already begun to restructure into an organic farm. Leaving behind the lease on the Home Farm is a huge deal though, and what’s going to happen to it? Will someone else lease it and start their own competing organic line using Charles’ set-up? And how much time – honestly – will King Charles have to oversee the Sandringham farm for the Duchy line? And why isn’t William involved? Isn’t this why William exiled his brother, so William could have it all, all of the attention, all of the “preparing to be Prince of Wales/King” glamour, all of the money brought in by the Duchy Organic line? Turns out, William’s not actually interested in the day-to-day work.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red.
They could have had a bad bitch(es)! Pure hypothetical, but I can see MM loving overseeing an organic food farm and brand.
I totally agree!
Me too! I feel like she would have really liked that given her focus on both physical and mental well being. I could see her also using the farm/products for charities that deal with food insecurity (or complementing that cookbook launch she did!) or helping urban kids get out into nature.
Sigh.
Would have been great.
That’s actually a good point! Meghan had so many skills that were beneficial for this family but instead we got what we have now,………
Anyway, she is home!
Ugh this is such a good point. Would have been perfect for her.
It’s sad. Could it be that it’s going to sandringham because willie has his place there and wanted to have it all in one place so he could be “working” on the farm while being forever vacationing at sandrigham with top CEO kate?
This is a simple business decision by Charles. Why rent 900 acres after being gifted 2,000 acres. The profit potential is obvious.
I think it is purely a business decision. But l agree that Meghan would have been great working on organic foods and farming. But nobody can see the future. 😉
Right? Also, this really could be a family business that’s suited to their snooty neighbours and friends, especially if the monarchy is ever abolished
They can be the lords and ladies of Sandringham, or wherever
Yes that would have been so great! What the heck is William going to do as PoW? Go to football matches and make some speeches about wildlife poaching? What does he care about??
I was just going to say, this kind of thing would have been a perfect project for her. She did bits about organic food on blog IIRC, and of course we know she did the cookbook.
What a shame and missed opportunity.
I’m admittedly not a Prince Charles* fan. However he’s clearly passionate about organic produce so this must be hard. I do wonder how public perception of the monarchy will shift after the Queen passes away. Prince William seems incredibly narrow minded and stubborn. Prince Andrew is literally a criminal with known criminal connections. Prince Charles may mean well but he’s always been terrible with PR. The institution is so inward looking & rigid that they drove away Meghan & Harry with rampant misogynoir.
*I can’t remember the title for the life of me. But he released a book which had some choice quotes about reestablishing feudal era of land management.
I remember reading what you are speaking off.
Charles has a big problem with large corporate farming as is widely seen in the USA. He feels large corporate farming destroys rural cottage industries and the rural way of life that spring up with owner-occupied, renter and tenant farming.
Tracey Ward Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort supports this theory too and is very vocal about it.
From memory there were valid points in his argument like the ones you raised. But his turn of phase implied that the best solution was a rigid hierarchy with a monarchy on top. I’m definitely anti-factory farming because it’s so destructive.
I really wish I could find the exact quote I’m thinking of instead of having to rely on memory. He just comes across as so loss in his own privilege that he’s incapable of contextualising his ideas with critical thought and reason.
MarcelMarcel – You may be correct. I do not remember what book it is in that Charles set forth this philosophy but I do remember reading it. I was only trying to corroborate your post with what I remember reading.
Sorry if I sounded like I was correcting you! I appreciated the context you gave.☺️ My verbose style of communication doesn’t translate well to online commenting. (I’m following this blog for like a decade maybe? And always appreciated the thoughtful nature of your comments).
Several documentaries like Food Inc. have left me really wary of factory farming. I buy local produce and treat myself to organic food when I can. I hope we can create a world where organic and nourishing food can be accessible to all. I often finding myself half agreeing with people like Charles and Gwyneth Paltrow on the topic of food. I just wish they could see beyond their economic privilege.
One of Charles’ major projects, through the Duchy of Cornwall, Poundbury has received very mixed reviews depending upon which angle you look at the project from and what was hoped the project would achieve.
HE feels it because it’s true! I mean it’s pretty obvious how that happens and I agree with Charles that it’s a huge issue. It could even have very bad consequences for the earth
I remember reading a Charles biography where the author noted that Charles romanticizes time periods where someone in his position would have had the most power and control.
And why not have protected land for small farming but controlled by a governing body with guidelines rather than privately owned by a wealthy person. Shows where Charles’ mind is at if he jumps to thinking inherited leadership is best. Imagine if the leader were another Andrew?
Hope – You have a valid point. I believe that Charles always thinks the he, and people like him, can do the best job of managing “the land” based on what he, through the Duchy of Cornwall, has achieved. Charles is not he only privileged person in the world who has this type of mindset. It is a very common disease.
What Charles forget is that what he has done requires a great deal of capital, cash flow and healthy line of credit with a bank.
And some of those farming models already exist or could be adapted for the future (including the food production issues that are emerging with climate change). It’s just that some of them, like agricultural co-ops, don’t require aristocracy, multinational corporations, or top-down government management, so they don’t appeal to those people already in power.
Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe provides a fascinating perspective on agriculture if you’re interested in sustainable farming practices. Strengthening our connection to Mother Earth via food is such an important topic. It’s far too valuable for us to let it by co-opted by colonialist capitalists like Charles.
Marcel, I know exactly what you mean with regard to your “feudal era” comment and I actually find it to be something of an Achilles’ Heel for Charles. He has been forward-thinking in some ways, i.e. environmentalism, but in a lot of ways he seems very old-fashioned and I find myself thinking it could potentially trip him up during his reign. Not sure how to explain it but he gives the vibe of someone who might take being king “too” seriously and will end up overstepping.
You’d think if he took being king seriously, he would have both his sons in line and working for him. Instead, one’s been driven out of the country with his passive approval, and the other is an useless ass with only one working body part.
@Sid Exactly! I do wonder how it will play out when he’s the King. He doesn’t have the same level of good PR that the Queen has. (She is covering for Andrew aka a sex criminal and I don’t think she deserves public support. But enough people disagree to bolster her up).
He massively mismanaged his divorce from Diana to the detriment of his public image. And he seems passively complicit in the racially charged public smearing of Meghan (to me). So it’ll be interesting if his ‘Achilles heel’ of feudal attitudes coupled with poor PR skills damages the monarchy. I assume he’s surrounded by terrible advisors because he never capitalised on the goodwill triggered in Commonwealth countries by Harry & Meghan.
Oddly Finding Freedom did not have many “scenes” with the Sussexes and Prince Charles. The narrative seemed to be more about the Cambridges as “influencers.” Very strange.
The Sussexes are not burning bridges with Charles, the book mentions that Charles is very conscious about his public image, which has slowly improved over the 25 years since Diana’s death. The Crown is getting nearer and so he doesn’t want to upset the press or William. Privately Charles is sympathetic but the Crown is more important than protecting the Sussexes and Harry and Meghan must know this. Charles is pretending to be close to William which he is not, he prefers Harry.
and whose fault is it? I give him credit for his business acumen but in everything else in his life, he is either spineless or uninvolved! he has to be one or the other
Lmao I love how succinct you are and how accurate your hot take is.
That’s sad. The organic farming was one of the few things I liked about Charles.
William is going to be shocked when he’s in charge of the Duchy and realizes that the money he’s lived off his entire life is due partially to his father’s hard work … if Charles as to shut down these companies/let go of leases, its going to reduce the income.
This also just makes me support Meghan and Harry’s decision all the more. If the brothers were fighting over funding when neither held the purse strings, things were only going to get tighter.
Mark my words, William is going to run everything into the ground. He’s not equipped for this job.
I believe what you say is true but the Ducky of Cornwall does have trustees which William will have no choice but to deal with.
There will be no growth or development. The existing projects will flouder and eventually fail, even under Board management. It takes someone enthusiastic at the top to keep all that running. William will only want to live off the proceeds, which will decrease rapidly once he’s in charge.
The organic line funds the Prince’s Trust not the Duchy of Cornwall. The two aren’t connected. It’s also not being shut down. It’s being expanded and made more profitable. Why lease 900 acres when you can use 2,000 acres for free?
The Prince of Wales actually has limited control over the Duchy. So, William has some safe guards. His father did a lot with it, but it also has people outside the family who run it. That’s how it’s kept up when there isn’t a Prince of Wales. Which may happen again under King William because they might want to wait until George is ready to make him Prince of Wales rather than making him Prince of Wales at 9 like they did Charles. The way Royals are expected to work has changed. Making George Prince of Wales before he’s ready to be a full time Royal would be a mistake.
So he’s still going to be running an organic farm, just on Sandringham property, not near Highgrove? That says to me that he is definitely preparing for a move to Sandringham as the monarch (not full time obviously). I wonder if he and Camilla would give Highgrove to William? (I was googling yesterday and found websites that said Highgrove was owned personally by Charles and that it was part of the Duchy, which I guess would also make it Charles’s?)
This is all somewhat confusing to me but it seems that he’s continuing with his organic products, just not out of Home Farm.
Highgrove belongs to the Duchy.
It’s quite literally the opposite of what is being reported about it. He’s expanding the line on land he owns. So, he’s going to be able to produce more for less money. Philip was always obsessed with progress and innovation. So, he liked all the new farming techniques, but more recently came around to see that Charles was actually correct about them. It probably would have happen sooner if there weren’t leases involved. The land at Sandringham was likely leased to someone and that lease had to run out before Charles could take over. Charles also had to set things up because it was likely being over farmed due to Philip’s previous views. So, this has likely been in the works for years and it’s a good thing because the line funds the Prince’s Trust. The more money it brings in the better. Location isn’t nearly as important.
Philip’s support of alternative and sustainable agriculture are what guided Charles in his path. Charles didn’t think it up on his own; it sprang from Philip. It was one of the few ways in which Charles could gain approval from Philip, by following Philip’s direction moving away from chemical farming.
Ah okay, that all makes more sense. So its just a simple business decision.
I guess I don’t understand why he can’t keep doing it. What does the monarch do? I mean it’s not like they’re governing.
Charles is very hands-on with all properties owned by the Duchy. Taking over the Sandringham Estate may make this Duchy property redundant. Just a theory.
At this point, I highly doubt that Charles even asked William if he was interested in taking over the Duchy farms. Why bother to ask when the obvious answer would be no? Charles knows who William is and why hand over a passion project to someone without any passion.
I hope Charles leaves Highgrove to Harry and Meghan. The gardens there are his labor of love, and I think that Meghan would be the right custodian for it.
I would guess that Highgrove would go to George.
He cannot leave Highgrove to Harry and Meghan, it doesn’t belong to him. It was purchased with Duchy funds, with Board approval of the purchase, to be the country home of the Duke of Cornwall.
If he wants Harry to have Highgrove? He has to get the Board to sell it to Harry now, for full market value. The second QEII is gone, Highgrove is under William’s control.
nota – This is exactly what I thought, The Duchy of Cornwall owns Highgrove, but since I could not find a receipt, I did not want to post just in case I was mistaken.
Tinfoil Tiara Theory: Maybe William will “banish” Kate to Highgrove on pretense of health reasons so he can keep Anmer Hall for himself and his Rose gardening hobby.
Or he could banish her to Wood Farm at Sandringham after Philip passes, then keep Anmer for himself. He’ll have plenty of time for Rose gardening once Kate and kids move back to London for school.
Wood farm is on the Sandringham Estate. I would think if Kate is to be banished it would be a good distance away from Norfolk and the Turnip Toffs.
Kate won’t be banished away from the kids, if they divorce while the kids are young. While they’re still in school in London, Kate would get a small space at KP, not Apartment 1A or the Gloucesters former space. She could also be allowed Wood Farm, only while the kids are young, so school holidays could be spent going back and forth easily from Anmer to WF.
Or she could be sent packing back to mummy Carole (if William paid for that house).
She could also say no to all of the above? I doubt she will be the pushover they’ve been experiencing so far with her future.
Lady D – We’re just spitting nails and seeing what hits wood as this is a gossip site with some great gossip! LOL! LOL!
Diana was horribly unhappy at Highgrove. I like the idea of Kate being banished to Highgrove and continuing the Diana co-splay only this time, it’s shared misery.
While Charles is alive, I can’t imagine the Highgrove gardens going to ruin, even under Will’s control. If Charles can’t leave Highgrove to H&M, selling it to them, if they were interested, would be the next best thing. The gardens are such a labor of love and creativity and need to be preserved. When it’s not needed as a rest home for cast-off Kate, maybe Will would give a long-term lease to Eugenie or Beatrice.
I doubt Charles wants Kate and Carole messing up decades of work at Highgrove.
Beatrice and Eugenie do not need a lease on a country property. They inherit the *pre-paid* lease for Royal Lodge from Andrew.
nota – Charles should just let you and I live at and take care of Highgrove. END OF STORY!!!!! No further discussion necessary! LOL! LOL!
I don’t think Kate would go to Highgrove in the event of a divorce – she’d be given a different place at KP most likely, especially while the kids are in school, and I imagine her country weekends would be at her parents.
William really is such a lazy waste of space. It would be one thing if he had some kind of commitment or passion for something else and really put his effort into that. But he seems to be dull and uninterested in anything. He could’ve taken this over from his father and continued to nurture what appears to be a successful operation.
You’re right, William is incredibly lazy, we have piles of evidence to support this! However if this is something he’s not interested in at l then Charles is probably doing the right thing, it would just go to wrack and ruin if he passed it on to someone who has no interest in it. I don’t really understand why he can’t just keep it there if it works as it is but I’m sure there’s a silly royal protocol reason somewhere.
He’s still going to farm and is increasing the size from 900 acres to 2,000 on land he owns. It’s simply a smart business decision. Why continue farming on 900 acres you are leasing when you can farm on 2,000 acres for free? It will make more money for the Princes’ Trust that way. He’s been worried about how it will continue without William and/or Harry involved. This is one way to ensure it’s future by increasing it’s funding. He never ran the farm day to day anyway. He spends his weeks in London and only went to Highgrove on the weekends.
I don’t think the article has the facts right. The Sandringham Estate is owned by Liz personally. Philip was heading up the estate management for Balmoral and Sandringham, working to make them self-supporting. He handed that management over to Charles several years ago.
Whether or not title to the land was also handed over is in question, because Charles will inherit it when QEII passes anyway. What he makes off managing Balmoral and Sandringham currently goes into his mummy’s private pockets, but soon will go into his. Not into The Prince’s Trust, but into Charles Windsor’s personal wallet.
To add. What might have happened? Philip handed over management of the private Sandringham estate to Charles. Charles then convinced the Duchy Board to lease the X amount of private Sandringham lands from Liz Windsor. Yes, the produce from those lands then went into Duchy Originals, which were sold to benefit the Duchy of Cornwall. But odds are good, somewhere along the line, the Duchy paid Liz Windsor privately for the lease of the land.
Duchy originals isn’t owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. It states that clearly in the article.
Philip gave the management over to Edward not Charles. Charles is too busy for it just like the Queen was also too busy for it.
He may not own it directly, but his family does. I doubt the family made him lease it. They know it’ll be his anyway. The Queen will leave everything to Charles to avoid tax. So, he’d essentially be leasing it to himself. He’s been very worried about the Prince’s Trust surviving. He’s been allowed the organics line because the money goes to the Prince’s Trust. Otherwise it would have been shut down ages ago because it’s making money off of his position. He might pay himself something for managing it. I’m not sure how strict they are about the rules. However, the profits go to the Trust and will likely continue going to the trust as long as Charles lives. Unless the UK decides to get rid of the Monarchy. Then he’ll likely start pocketing the money because he won’t have a Duchy anymore.
Again, this article is full of mistruths. Charles is the future owner of Sandringham and Balmoral, not Edward. Philip didn’t hand anything over to Edward, who likely kills houseplants on the regular. Eddie might be Philip’s fav, but no, he wouldn’t hand management of Charles’s future private estates to dithering-but-dim Edward.
Leasing private Windsor lands to a charity isn’t a zero sum game. Nor does Charles get to magically take a legal charity entity and start pocketing the funds personally.
I think Edward is taking over the Duke of Edinburgh awards.
This makes sense.
I’m relatively sure the Duchy Originals (as it was) line doesn’t fund The Prince’s Trust… where did you get that info from?
EDIT: having checked the Waitrose Duchy Organic website, the line supports The Prince of Wales Charitable Fund. That isn’t the same entity as The Prince’s Trust, which is a separate youth charity rather than the grant giving organisation the the TPWCF is.
I thought the whole point of “Duchy Originals” was to raise money for Charles’ pet charities.
His sons weren’t interested in this business. I can understand that it isn’t their thing and I don’t hold it against Will or Harry. Charles needs to start thinking of some sort of trust that will exist separate from him and after his death if he wants the project to continue.
William is the future Duke of Cornwall. How is the business of the Duchy of Cornwall not William’s responsibility?
William is the future Prince of Wales. How is The Prince (of Wales) Trust charity not William’s responsibility?
I get it, William is lazy and afraid of everything his father has accomplished. He doesn’t want to take over and run those things, because he’ll run them all into the ground. Instead he flits around screaming about wanting to be his own man, wanting to run his own charity interests, while accomplishing nothing.
Harry is neither the future Duke of Cornwall nor the future Prince of Wales. Neither of those things things would ever, *or should ever*, have been his to run. He’s spent most of his life doing the heavy lifting for his useless older brother. He shouldn’t be condemned to a life of indentured servitude running Duchy or POW things, with William stealing all the proceeds and credit.
William will spend the rest of his life doing the bare minimum and call that “being his own man.”
nota – Is it true that David Linley has been “selected” to take over as head of The Prince’ Trust when Charles ascends the throne (or kicks the bucket)?
I have read this many places but do not know if it is true or just speculation.
He’s the vice president of The Prince’s Foundation, which Charles started in March 2018. It is an umbrella way to reorganize much of his existing charity work. Likely to shut a lot of it down, grant the monies out to other charities, and shut many of them down.
That Prince’s Foundation has oversight of a lot of things, including Dumfries House iirc.
There’s no indication of Charles stepping down as President of The Prince’s Trust / Prince’s Trust Group. As his involvement is mostly like a trustee (e.g. a set amount of meetings a year, plus a few appearances for the publicity), I can see him having quite a long involvement and it being one of the last things he lets go of.
It would however be great if another royal did show interest in the issues around youth unemployment and could start to look like a decent successor.
The Princes Trust needs a face, which is missing at present. Linley may be working behind the scenes but he does not have the charisma to propel it in the way Charles did. If they don’t find someone to fill the gap, it will die. The Sussexes fill all the boxes, they are great with young people and fundraising.
Charles is super passionate about the farming stuff so it’s sad to me to hear this news. But it seems he’s getting a bigger farm anyways so all hope is not lost.
Oh, thank God – I saw the headline and yelled ‘NO!!!’ No more double cream! Butter! Milk! Cheddar! Horrors! What hell life would be without Duchy cheddar!
I really do admire the work Charles does for the environment. Rumours in my neck of the woods is that PWT thinks the business is ‘just too much work’, that he ‘simply doesn’t have the time’. (Like, what the hell does he do with his time anyway? I thought he was super into gardening, particularly topiary?) And that it’s a profound disappointment to Charles.
Didn’t Willnot take some sort of bespoke organic farming course a few years ago? He seemed to have given up half-way through because..too much work. It would be a perfect segue for the Cambridges to lean into but between the two of them they don’t seem to have a smidgen of interest in doing anything other than the occasional Zoom call.
Yep–and apparently (this came up recently) lived separately from Kate & the kids while taking the “bespoke” course he couldn’t even finish! Apparently just another excuse to put off real work & to live as a bachelor to boot.
He did, and I think at the time it was specifically said that he was taking it in preparation for taking over the Duchy of Cornwall. But he didn’t finish it lol.
I live in a fairly affluent area but there is only one widely available full fat natural organic yogurt in the shops and I stopped buying it after they refused to stop advertising in the Daily Mail after Stop Funding Hate called them out on it. I now walk to Waitrose every couple of weeks just to get the Duchy Organic one and it is DELICIOUS.
I really don’t understand William. What does he want to do? Just vacation and photo ops his whole life?
I don’t think William even knows. Maybe if he was able to develop an identity outside of “You’re the future king!”, he would. Harry clearly took to the military and developed an intense love for Africa and conservation early on. We know Charles loves organic farming. Can’t say over the years I got any sense of what Will is passionate about.
‘I don’t think William even knows’. This.
He doesn’t want to be king, but he doesn’t want to step aside. He doesn’t want to have to do the job of royal, but he wants the automatic deference. He doesn’t want to be questioned by the press, but he wants the press to kowtow, hide his affair, and print whatever he wants. He doesn’t want to be married, but he wants the PR cover being married provides.
The only thing I can tell you that William loves is football/soccer and maybe skiing?
It’s not that we need to know all the private details of his life, but you would think by 38 we would know more of his interests because they would be reflected in the types of projects he takes on.
We know Charles is passionate about climate change, sustainability, organic farming etc because we see that reflected in his work.
We know Harry is passionate about helping veterans and animal conservation because we see those things reflected in his work.
For will and kate, there’s pretty much no there, there. They talk about mental health or the early years, but there’s no evidence of them being passionate about it. they tell us they are, but don’t show it.
So yeah, I agree with @Nota. William doesn’t know what he wants – the result of his privileged bubble? The result of never being told no? For whatever reason, he doesn’t want to be king, but he wont step aside, but it seems that is as far as his sense of duty extends.
William seemed to “want to look out for Harry” aka ” running Harry’s life and being pushy” and enjoys the sense of “power” but without the real work involved. Thankfully, Harry and Meghan and Archie left which must have frustrated William and Kate. William has no real interests unless sports are counted and “fun events.”
Damn I like that duchy organic hummus!
It’s more to do with business costs than him retiring from duchy duties/handing it to billy! With brexit and now covid alot of business have to restructure their plans and I think they might be looking to partner with more supermarkets than just one
I read last year an article that said Charles had discussed the duchy duties with both sons a few years before Meghan came on the scene and neither one of the boys wanted to do it. Charles knew someday he would have to make a decision about program-plus he streamling the monarchy for the future.