The King has raised millions of pounds for charity thanks to profits from his Duchy Originals range, with his branded biscuits, beer, herbal medicine and garden tools helping him earn a fortune.
King Charles set up the company based at his Highgrove House estate, Tetbury in 1990 and it has since become established as a leading organic and natural food brand, and in 2010 went into partnership with Waitrose.
The retailer sells a full range of products under the now renamed Duchy Organics brand, including meat, fish, eggs and dairy. It also sells the well-known Duchy Originals biscuits, which is arguably the range's biggest success.
The Duchy Originals range, which was initially sold through Harrods and Fortnum & Mason.
King Charles millions, with analysis for The Sunday Times Rich List revealing he has a personal fortune of £600million, making him wealthier than the late Queen, whose fortune was calculated at £370 million last year.
Charles’ fortunes exceed the likes of David and Victoria Beckham, Sir Elton John and the Warburton bread-making dynasty, when compared with last year’s list.
Charles has earned money through housing developments and making frugal lifestyle choices linked to environmentalism.
The King built sustainable development in Dorset before beginning a similar project in Cornwall. In the meantime, the duchy's income went up from renting commercial properties in London, Milton Keynes and Cornwall.
The duchy is valued at more than £1 billion and is one of the largest and oldest estates in Britain. Dating back to the 14th century, holdings include the Oval cricket ground, 67,000 acres of Dartmoor and 260 farms.
Analysis by the Sunday Times shows that between 2011 and 2022, King Charles increased the Duchy of Cornwall’s annual profits by 42.6 per cent to £25.4 million.
The duchy's wealth increased by almost 50 per cent to £1.04 billion over the same period, the newspaper found.
The King received £212.7 million from the duchy between 2012 and 2022, data shows, with Charles opting to pay income tax on that figure.
And all profits from the Duchy have gone to charitable causes.
It also operates entirely separately from the Duchy of Cornwall, which has been Charles' main source of income. However, the estate is not personally owned by the King or those related to him.
The late Queen also had a large investment portfolio, made of blue-chip stock market shares and bonds, which is estimated to be worth around £100 million, analysis showed.
