Jan. 3, 2026

Prince William makes a LOT of money, and Should the Wales Children be the Palace’s Secret Weapon?

Show Notes
Transcript

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Calorogus Shark Media. Hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue. I

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am your host, Mark Francis. The new year brings even

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more power for Prince William and Kate Middleton. They are

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due to become grants of royal warrants in the spring.

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The move follows approval earlier this year from King Charles

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and marks a significant expansion of William and Kate's formal

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roles as the future King and Queen. As grant as

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they will have the power to award Royal warrants to

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companies or individuals that have supplied goods or services to

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the Royal household on a regular basis for at least

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five of the past seven years. A Royal warrant is

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widely seen as one of the most prestigious endorsements in Britain,

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allowing approved businesses to display the Royal arms on products, packaging,

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advertising and premises for a five year period. Since ascending

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the throne in twenty twenty two, King Charles and Queen

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Camilla have granted hundreds of warrants, including two long established

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brands such as Schweps. Royal watchers believe Kate's involvement in

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particular could reshape the relevance of the warrant for a

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new audience. Elizabeth Holmes, author of HRH So Many Thoughts

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on Royal Style, told Town and Country there is a

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large swath of Royal watchers who came to follow the

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Royal family through her and importantly shop the brands she wears.

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I think the Princess now being able to grant royal

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warrants will introduce this honor in a new way to

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a new generation of Royal watches. Royal journalist Richard Palmer

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echoed that view, describing the Royal warrant as the gold

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standard of endorsements and adding Kate's warrant will be especially

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sought after the Royal family spent much of twenty twenty

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five trying to position William and Kate as a regular

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old family. A typical photoop which show the future king

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sharing a pint with the lads, but hopefully he's picking

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up the bill. Prince William's role as Prince of Wales

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comes with substantial financial resources drawn from the Duchy of Cornwall.

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According to the Duchy of Cornwall's Integrated Annual Report for

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twenty twenty five, the estate recorded a distributable surplus of

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about thirty point nine million dollars for the twenty twenty

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four to twenty twenty five financial year. This marked Prince

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William's second full year receiving income from the Duchy after

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inheriting it when his father, King Charles acceded to the

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throne in twenty twenty two. The surplus covers the official,

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charitable and private expenses of Prince William, Kate Middleton and

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their three children. As a working member of the royal family,

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the Prince of Wales does not receive a conventional salary. Instead,

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his income is derived from the Duchy of Cornwall and

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a state established in thirteen thirty seven by Edward the

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Third to provide financial support for their heir to the throne.

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The estate spans around one hundred thirty thousand acres across

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twenty three counties in England and Wales, and includes farmland,

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residential properties and commit mrcial assets. Its total value is

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estimated at more than one billion dollars. Prince William became

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Duke of Cornwall and head of the estate following the

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death of Queen Elizabeth and his father's accession. He has

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understood to pay income tax on the income he receives

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from the Duchy after household expenses, though some of those

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expenses are not publicly itemized. Since taking on the role,

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Prince William has been actively involved in overseeing the estate.

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He has made multiple visits, including a trip in May

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twenty twenty four to New Quy where he toured an

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innovative Duchy housing project focused on tackling homelessness. The first

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full year report following his succession also detailed changes to

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his patronages. A committed football supporter, Prince William became Patron

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of the Football Association, a role previously held by Queen Elizabeth,

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after serving as the ffa's president since two thousand and six.

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He also took on new patronages with the Welsh Guard's

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Charity and the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Association, became President of

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the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association, and transition from

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President to Patron of Fields in Trust. In the Express

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Chris Britches' Rights of the Royals Secret Weapon to erase Andrew,

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Fergie and Harry that weapon the Children, which was rights

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all three young Whaleses appear adorable, cheeky, intelligent and showered

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with love from their parents. But above all, the treacing

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both very human and humane in how they show their

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individual characters, all the while under the judging glare of

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the public and press. True, they must be given space

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to live their lives as children, attend their schools, universities,

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and early careers with privacy. And yes, we should not

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assume or impose that all three will aspire to roles

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as working royals. But they could also be the biblical

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cleansing wave that in time can wash clean the lingering

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stain of Andrew and Fergi and Erode, the millstone of

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Jeffrey Epstein's memory that still weighs heavily on the royal

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family's neck. Royal inside a deep crown suggests caution telling

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palace intrigue. The Dallas has spent decades learning, sometimes painfully,

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that treating royals's commodities rather than people inevitably ends in disaster.

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One needn't look further than their uncle in Montecito to

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see what happens when the institution mistakes visibility for duty,

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celebrity for service more palace in just a moment, Royal correspondence,

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much like the formality expected at the dining table, follows

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long established conventions. A recent letter from the Princess of

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Wales supporting Addiction Awareness Week provided an unusually close look

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at those traditions, revealing her signature as Catherine alongside a

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gold stamped personal cipher at the top of her Kensington

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Palace stationary. Those details have prompted renewed interest in the

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elaborate system behind royal signatures and monograms. At the heart

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of it is the royal cipher, effectively a monarch's personal emblem.

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It is typically formed from the sovereign's initial and the

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letter are for Rex or Regina, and is topped with

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a crown and Elizabeth. The seconds familiar er or E.

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The second R has of course now given way to

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King Charles the third's design and intertwined C and R

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with the number three spelled out beneath the Tudor crown.

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The tradition dates back to the Tudors. Henry the eighth

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was the first to attach the R to his initial,

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making his royal authority visually explicit. Upon his accession, King

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Charles was presented with multiple proposed designs by the College

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of Arms and personally chose the version now appearing on

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government buildings, official papers and gradually across the country's post boxes.

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The first post box bearing his cipher was installed in

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Great Camborne in twenty twenty four, painted in commemorative gold.

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By comparison, the limited number of surviving boxes from the

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reign of King Edward the Eighth, just one hundred and

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sixty eight remain among the rarest in Britain. Despite this

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appetite four royal symbols, members of the family almost never

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sign autographs. The long standing rule exists to guard against forgery,

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which could jeopardize documents requiring their genuine signature. The Princess

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of Wales herself explained the restriction to school children during

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the twenty twenty two Chelsea Flower Show, saying my name's Katherine.

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I'm not allowed to write. My signature is just one

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of those rules. When signatures are required, they follow strict patterns.

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Queen Elizabeth the Second maintained two Elizabeth r for state matters,

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the R identifying her position as sovereign, and the more

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intimate little bit reserved for personal correspondence. Royal women who

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marry into the family generally signed with a single given name. Diana,

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Princess of Wales, wrote Diana Spencer when signing the wedding register,

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but subsequently used only Diana, a practice followed by Sarah,

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Duchess of York, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, and Queen Camilla.

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The Princess of Wales science as Katherine with a distinctive

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capital C alongside the monarch's formal cipher. Other members of

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the family make use of personal monograms for private letters

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or gifts. These vary in design and color. Queen Camilla's

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monogram incorporates her initial and the R for Regina, Prince William,

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Harry and Cathy, and have each used their own preferred

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colors on personal stationery. The Princess of Wales's single crowned

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C denotes her individual identity, separate from any joint sci

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fi she may share with the Prince of Wales. The

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observers noted, however, that the Prince of Wales still uses

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the coronet associated with the child of the Prince of Wales,

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rather than a symbol updated to reflect his current position

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in the line of succession. A London tour guide has

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said that American visitors are most curious about two members

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of the royal family, and neither is the Prince or

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Princess of Wales. Will Hide, a travel writer for The

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Daily Telegrapher, qualified Blue Badge tourist guide in London, says

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conversations with American tourists frequently turned to the Royals, with

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particular interests focused on Prince Harry and Meghan Markel. Speaking

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to The Mirror, Hyde said the royal family inevitably dominates

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conversation with US visitors, overwhelmingly Harry and Meghan, though few

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of my guests seem to be fans of the latter.

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He added that he has yet to receive questions about

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Prince Andrew, suggesting the subject may still be too sensitive.

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And there you have it. Like to email us of

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addresses The Palasintrigue at gmail dot com. Please follow us

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Come say hi, I'm Mark Francis my thanks to John McDermott.

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Prince William makes a LOT of money, and Should the Wales Children be the Palace’s Secret Weapon?

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