Prince William's Duchy of Cornwall's total worth listed as £1.3bn
The Duchy's total assets rose to a value of more than £1.26billion
PA
The total assets of Prince William's Duchy of Cornwall estate have risen once again to nearly £1.3billion, royal accounts have revealed.
The Duchy - which owns and manages some 135,000 acres of land in England and provides an income to the Prince of Wales and his family - releases a yearly "Integrated Annual Report" which charts its investments, assets, earnings and more.
In its 2024 edition, the estate announced its total assets rose to a value of more than £1.26bn - a jump of over £31million since 2023.
While the Duchy's net assets - its total assets minus its total liabilities - rose by £34m to £1.1bn.
The Duchy's asset value has increased every year except 2020
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The increase marks the Duchy's seventh-largest wealth increase since it started releasing annual reports - and its fourth in a row since the Covid pandemic, when both its total and net assets took a slight tumble.
As Prince of Wales, Prince William is entitled to the Duchy of Cornwall's annual profits - its "distributable surplus" as his annual private income.
This year, said surplus totals a reported £23.6million - approximately £400,000 less than last year, which the Duchy blamed on a "slight decrease in the operating surplus from property management".
The Duchy's profits cover the entirety of the "official, charitable, and private lives" of the Waleses - Prince William, Princess Kate and their children, George, Charlotte and Louis.
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Prince William is entitled to the Duchy of Cornwall's annual profits
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The report covers the entirety of the financial year, which ends on April 1 - so this release of figures marks the first full financial year Prince William has spent as first in line to the throne following the death of his grandmother Queen Elizabeth in September 2022.
And under William's stewardship, the Duchy has ramped up its focus on climate change and "sustainability" - indeed, this year's report's "headline vision" is "Sustainable stewardship for communities, enterprise and nature".
Alastair Martin, the Duchy's Secretary and Keeper of the Records, talked up its strategic goals of addressing mental health, homelessness, becoming a "net zero estate" by 2032 - and, of course, growing income and maintaining value.
Discussing the drop-off in profits, Martin said that he had predicted the Duchy wouldn't quite touch last year's record £24m - but he said he was "pleased" with this year's figure nonetheless.
The Duchy's Poundbury development was a pet project of the former Duke of Cornwall, King Charles
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The Duchy's secretary said "significant" new housing was being delivered at its Poundbury and Nansledan developments
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He said: "I am pleased this was achieved while still spending a record amount on repairs and maintenance and investing in our staff and our sustainability programmes.
"Again, it would be imprudent to expect much of an increase on this over the coming year."
And in a year where homes and building have featured so highly on the political agenda, the Duchy's secretary said "significant" new housing was being delivered at its Poundbury and Nansledan developments in Dorset and Cornwall - both pet projects under the estate's prior stewardship of then-Prince Charles.
He also noted that the Duchy had a planning application in the works for another site in Kent - which he said that, if sanctioned, "will provide much-needed innovative sustainable housing and employment".