I was enthralled by the work being undertaken in Dumfries House as shown in Countryfile tonight. It showed a lot of environmental work being undertaken. But was what also sprung to my mind was just how much property do the Royals have that is not generally known about. Dumfries House is a new one on me.
I vaguely remember reading that the Royal Family is the biggest landowner in the country.
Came across this site which lists some of them, Dumfries House is mentioned
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1. Forestry Commission: 2.2 million acres
The UK’s largest public landowner is the Forestry Commission, which has a staggering 2.2 million acres in its portfolio. The government department was established in 1919 to replant and restore forests depleted during World War I.
2. National Trust & National Trust for Scotland: 815,000 acres
Together, the National Trust and National Trust for Scotland own around 815,000 acres of land in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, ranging from coastline and countryside to stately homes and pubs, making these conservation organisations Britain’s premier private landowners.
3. Ministry of Defence: 750,000 acres
Prodigious expanses of the British countryside are given over for the defence of the realm – the military owns a jaw-dropping 750,000 acres of land in the UK, from extensive training grounds to residential properties.
4. Crown Estate: 360,000 acres
The Crown Estate totals 360,000 acres, but while it belongs to the reigning monarch, the estate cannot be sold by the Queen and is not considered her private property. The holding includes high value parts of London and colossal tracts of agricultural land.
12. Duchy of Cornwall: 135,000 acres
The Duchy of Cornwall has 135,000 acres of land spanning 23 English counties. The Duchy belongs to the Prince of Wales (now Charles III), but His Royal Highness doesn’t own it in the classic sense as its capital assets are kept in trust for the nation.
33. Queen Elizabeth II: 20,000 acres
Her late Majesty may have had Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Balmoral at her disposal, but these assets are actually owned by the nation. The Queen’s private land holdings amount to a surprisingly modest 20,000 acres, mainly in and around Sandringham in Norfolk.
Many foreign “investors” own large tracts of UK land, including one from Australia:
40. Osprey Consortium: 17,607 acres
Anglian Water has a portfolio of 17,607 acres of land in the East of England. The company is owned by a consortium that includes the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Australia’s Colonial First State Global Asset Management and the UK-based 3i Group.
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In 1814, Dumfries House was inherited, along with the earldom of Dumfries, by John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute, and the property remained in the Crichton-Stuart family until 2007. In the later 20th century, the house was lived in by the Dowager Marchioness of Bute, Lady Eileen, until her death in 1993. The 6th Marquess died a few months later, meaning the house passed to her grandson the 7th Marquess, the racing driver known as John Bute (and formerly as Johnny Dumfries).
With John Bute facing a bill from the death duties of both his father and grandmother, he considered selling the house. It was first offered to the National Trust for Scotland in 1994, but they declined. In 2004, it was again offered to the National Trust, but by 2007 negotiations had fallen through. In April 2007, it was announced the house would be sold and the contents auctioned separately. The house was scheduled for sale through Savills and its contents for auction by Christie’s. It was thought that some of the art and furniture might fetch nearly as much as the house itself; one Chippendale rosewood bookcase, for example, was valued at £2m-£4m.
With the announcement of the sale, preservationists lamented the imminent dispersal of an ensemble said to have remained virtually untouched since an 1803 inventory, and organised a campaign intending to buy the house and hold it in trust under the Save Britain’s Heritage organisation. With the funding the campaign managed to raise still falling short, a sale via the auction route looked inevitable after Historic Scotland announced in May 2007 that they would not financially back the campaign.
The estate was finally purchased as a whole after Charles, Prince of Wales (later Charles III) heard about the campaign from the writer and campaign member James Knox, who made “an impassioned impromptu speech” at one of the Prince’s bi-annual conservation conferences at Holyrood House in Edinburgh. On 27 June 2007, it was announced that a consortium headed by the Prince, and including various heritage charities and the Scottish Government (who contributed £5m), had raised £45 million to purchase the house and contents (along with its roughly 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) estate) and endow a trust for maintaining it.
The trust was set up with the name “The Great Steward of Scotland’s Dumfries House Trust”, a reference to the title Great Steward of Scotland then held by Charles in his role as Scottish heir apparent. A major element of the financial package was a £20m loan backed by The Prince’s Charities Foundation.
The trust’s intended model is to have the estate become a self-sufficient enterprise, in the process revitalising the local economy. The project was to be achieved through donation and sponsorship of various renovation projects around the estate, as well as through revenues from the construction of an ‘eco-village’ in the grounds, a planned community called Knockroon.
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I watched a documentary about the restoration of Dumfries House and thought it was good that Charles had helped to save the house and contents as a heritage project, when the National Trust weren’t able to.
I also like the way it is set up to provide an educational environment plus work and apprenticeships for skilled trades and crafts.
I understood Dumfries House was not really part of the “Royal Estates” - i.e. not owned by Charles in a private capacity or as part of either of the Royal Duchies or the Crown Estates but owned by a Charitable Trust set up by Charles.
I would like to visit Dumfries House one day.