Sometimes the only incumbent of a Durham pit village to sit in quire at the Miners’ Gala service in the Cathedral, my father was an Honorary Chaplain of the Royal Martyr Church Union, assiduously attending its events on or about this anniversary of the Royal Martyrdom in 1649. The regime that executed Charles I also persecuted the Levellers and the Diggers for their appeals to “the Ancient Constitution” and to “time out of mind”. That regime anticipated the bourgeois capitalist Revolutions of 1688, 1776 and 1789. Our own Radical tradition does not derive from those Revolutions. Rather, it predates them, and it opposed them and their consequences, making common cause with Tories for the abolition of slavery (by very specific appeal to the Ancient Constitution), for factory reform, for the extension of the franchise, for action against substance abuse and gambling, and so on.
On this day in 1661, the corpse of Oliver Cromwell was dug up, tried, convicted and hanged. Today, his statue appears to guard the entrance to Parliament. But as Alex Nunns, the Labour Left’s preeminent present chronicler of itself, once said to me, “John Lilburne himself would pull down the statue of Cromwell, if he were not 350 years dead.” The proposal to erect it nearly brought down the Liberal Government of the day. It went up only because the Liberal Unionists decided that making a point against the Irish Nationalists was even more important than making a pro-Tory one. So they voted for it against the ferocious opposition both of the Irish Nationalists and of their own Tory allies. It is pointedly not inside the Palace of Westminster, and not a penny of public money was spent on putting it up even where it is. In fact, it exists only because of a donation by the Liberal former Prime Minister, Lord Roseberry. He then gave an address at its unveiling. But almost no one knew that that was why he was the speaker. His donation had had to be made anonymously.
But the Whig oligarchy has prevailed to the point that the next King will be a half-Spencer, continuing the highly profitable Malthusian mission of his father and grandfather. As Paul Knaggs writes:
The Crown’s Green Windfall: How the King Profits Millions from Your Energy Bills
On a cold Wednesday night at Windsor Castle, the stars aligned, not in the heavens, but in the Waterloo Chamber. Benedict Cumberbatch, Judi Dench, and Rod Stewart gathered for the first-ever film premiere in a royal residence. The feature? Finding Harmony: A King’s Vision, a ninety-minute hagiography of King Charles III’s lifelong environmental crusade.
As the credits rolled on this cinematic ode to nature, narrated by Kate Winslet, a more grounded reality remained hidden beneath the waves of the British coastline. It is a reality where “harmony” looks less like a spiritual connection to the earth and more like a balance sheet. The King’s devotion to the planet is, conveniently, one of the most profitable business ventures in the history of the House of Windsor.
A Royal Claim on the Waves
For centuries, the monarch’s ownership of the British seabed was a matter of dusty convention. Sovereignty stopped at the low-water mark. However, in 1962, Queen Elizabeth II reportedly observed that the Crown Estate should take over “rights on land under the sea.” The catalyst was the North Sea oil boom. By 1964, the Continental Shelf Act formalised this grab, ensuring that while the government managed the drilling, the Crown held the title.
Then came the “Green Revolution.” In 2004, Tony Blair’s government gifted the Crown the right to collect royalties from wind and wave power. It was a masterstroke of neoliberal policy: taking a public necessity, renewable energy, and anchoring its exploitation to a feudal relic.
The financial implications of this are staggering. The Crown Estate, acting as the King’s property manager, recently oversaw a seabed auction that brought bidding to record highs. These “option fees”, payments made by energy giants just to reserve a patch of sea, have pushed the Crown Estate’s net profits to a record £1.1 billion for two consecutive years.
The Mathematics of “Harmony”
Under the current Sovereign Grant formula, these profits are handed to the Treasury, which then returns a percentage to the Royal Household.
Financial Year; Crown Estate Net Profit; Sovereign Grant (Approx.)
2021/22; £312.7m; £86.3m
2023/24; £1.1bn; £86.3m (due to 2-year lag)
2025/26 (Projected); £1.1bn; £132m
While the government recently lowered the percentage from 25% to 12% to account for the offshore wind “windfall,” the King is still set to receive a massive increase. In 2025/26, the grant is expected to jump to £132 million, a £45 million raise funded by the very energy crisis squeezing the pockets of his subjects.
The counterargument is simple: “But 75 to 88 percent goes to the Treasury! It funds public services!” This is a classic bait-and-switch. We are asked to be grateful that the public receives the majority of the revenue from its own natural resources, while a private family receives hundreds of millions for “upkeep” and “palace reservicing” simply because they happen to “own” the sea, not even by by birthright, but by decree from Tony Blair.
The Price of a Green Conscience
Orwell warned us about the use of “meaningless words” in politics. “Harmony” is one such word. In the documentary, the King speaks of a vision where humanity and nature exist in balance. But in the material world, this balance is skewed.
We are currently witnessing the enclosure of the commons on a maritime scale. The seabed is not a royal garden; it is a vital national asset. Why should a transition to green energy involve paying a tithe to a monarch? If the climate crisis is indeed an existential threat, every penny of that £1.1 billion should be reinvested directly into lowering energy bills for the 7 million homes these turbines power, not into refurbishing the East Wing of Buckingham Palace.
The King is undoubtedly sincere in his love for the environment. It is easy to be a visionary when the vision pays so well. But true environmentalism requires the dismantling of the very power structures that allow one man to profit from the wind that blows across a nation’s shores.
The monarchy’s “green” vision is a luxury the British public can no longer afford to subsidise.
A King’s vision is a fine thing, but a people’s sovereignty is better.
Fascinating.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
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