Prince William: ‘I want to bring about real change’ – by Hannah Furness for the Telegraph – 30.05.25
Michael Julien- 21 hours ago
- 6 min read
In a world exclusive, the Prince says he’s leading the Duchy of Cornwall with a simple goal – improving people’s lives.
When the Prince of Wales comes knocking, there’s no need to stand on ceremony. Having inherited the Duchy of Cornwall upon his father’s accession, William is leading it with a reforming zeal, a refreshing disregard for formality, and a determination to learn the truth about the lives of its tenants. This is what happened when I spent a day with the unorthodox landlord.
In a sunny field on the outskirts of Bath, there is a loud pop of a sparkling-wine cork. “I thought you’d never ask,” says the Prince of Wales, grinning and accepting a glass of fizz from the vineyard stretching out in front of him, on Duchy of Cornwall farmland.
He asks local producers questions about soil type, the weather and the history of the land before taking a sip and proclaiming it “lovely” and “very discreet”, at the start of a day that will go on as pleasantly as it began.
For Prince William, this is not just an outing in the peace and quiet of the countryside – although he clearly appreciates that chance. He is here in his role as Duke of Cornwall, head of the estate he inherited the moment his grandmother died and his father became King in 2022.
Vast, complex, and spanning 128,494 acres of land across 20 counties, the Duchy takes in both rural and urban life, and the priorities under its 25th Duke – William – range from ending homelessness to restoring rivers. He wants to use it as another “branch of his philanthropy”, he tells me: existing for “social impact” rather than as an old-style financial resource to be drawn from.
The Prince tries to visit part of the Duchy once every four to six weeks, working his way through its farms and offices to meet families and staff, shake hands and quiz them on what he can do to help. His visits are usually private, rarely making the Court Circular and kept quiet by loyal locals who are used to royal comings and goings.
Today, in the middle of May, Kensington Palace has granted a rare exception, giving permission for The Telegraph to join the Prince on what has become known as a “Duchy day” for the first time since he took it over.
It is six years since I first spent a day down on the farm with Prince William, and everything has changed. Then, he was in the apprentice role, shadowing his father, who had spent 50 years running the Duchy, and modestly telling farmers, “I’ll try my best.” Now, he is fully in the driving seat, lit up with ideas on how to make his mark and, in his words, change the lives of those who live in his Duchy for the better.
From a vineyard to a farm and community garden, via private offices and a peaceful stroll through a Somerset village, he sets out here, for the first time publicly, his vision for a new generation.
He is, unmistakably, a man on a mission: to reform his Duchy so it is fit for 2025 and beyond; a “positive force for good” that will actively “make people’s lives better”. “We’re not the traditional landowner,” he tells me. “We want to be more than that.”
He has allowed unprecedented access to those closest to the project, who are encouraged to speak freely outside of what can sometimes be strict Palace supervision. Developed over weeks of interviews with tenants and the senior staff tasked with bringing his vision to life, and a day with HRH himself, here is the clearest picture yet of the 42-year-old Prince in a new phase of life. “There is so much good we can do,” he says.
He ends the day with a longer to-do list than when he started, and takes home a bottle of home-grown Duchy apple juice. He will have to drink it, he jokes, before his children can get their hands on it.
What is the Duchy?
For an estate that dates back to 1337, established by Edward III to generate private income for his then seven-year-old heir, the Duchy of Cornwall is surprisingly little known to the public. Fiendishly difficult to explain, it is geographically huge and existentially challenging. Officially it exists to fund the life and work of the Duke of Cornwall and his family – raising £23.6 million in the year to March 2024, which also goes towards running the Kensington Palace operation and paying staff – and passes to the next generation intact: the Duke’s role is as steward of the land.
As with other landowners, tenants pay rent to the Duchy, and there are commercial leases and market-rate deals with public bodies for properties on estate land. The Prince pays voluntary income tax – though he does not disclose the amount – with annual accounts reported to Parliament and oversight from the Treasury.
The Duchy is written about in the popular press, generally, once a year, when its headline profit figures are announced, and is an easy target for critics of the monarchy, who make hay out of the sums of money available to the Royal family.
As of now, it has a new strap-line: “Positive impact for people, places and planet.” The “people” part is seen as mission-critical, including a heavy focus on solving homelessness, supporting the mental health of farmers, and arranging get-togethers to combat rural loneliness.
More than 150 people work across its eight offices, under the leadership of new secretary Will Bax and, ultimately, Prince William. Despite being called the Duchy of Cornwall, its largest landholdings are in Devon.
The estate spans land from Herefordshire and Wales to Kent and inner-city London – it owns the Oval in Kennington – and the Isles of Scilly, as well as water: sections of rivers in Dartmoor, Cornish beaches up to the high-tide line, and Plymouth Harbour (“the wet bits”, one senior member of staff explains).
It remains, arguably, most famous for the Duchy Originals organic food line – particularly known for its biscuits – established by the then Prince Charles in 1990. Though it is now owned by Waitrose (and called Duchy Organic), the estate’s annual report warns it could still be muddled in the public imagination.
Since Prince William stepped into the role of Duke of Cornwall, he has embarked on a careful but wholesale stocktake of what is working and what is not. He wants to “dig deeply” to get a “true feel for what the Duchy is doing”, he tells me now, “trying to just go through with a fine-tooth comb”.
“The Duchy has been a positive force for good, but we can do so much more. I think the key thing is, it’s about not losing the important community and historical links of the Duchy. But it’s also about making sure we’re building on and enhancing, modernising the Duchy.” He adds: “We’re going to modernise it without losing its key spirit of community.”
The Prince concedes that “it’s going to take a bit of time” – likening updating the 700-year-old Duchy to “turning a tanker” – but he is determined to shift the focus away from the revenue-raising of old to put “social impact” at the centre. He chairs a quarterly meeting of The Prince’s Council, attending numerous other committees. He sends questions to staff and chases answers via WhatsApp on any given day.
Oddly, he is now technically his father’s landlord: Highgrove, the King’s pride and joy, is part of the estate, although Charles still has the phone numbers of the right people at the Duchy to call to fix a water leak.
The visit.
On that mid-May day, the Prince arrives at Corston Fields Farm full of apologies. He is slightly late, after a train journey to Bath so delayed that the words “rail replacement service” were mentioned.
The farm, run by self-described “farmer and farmer’s husband” Emily and Eddie Addicott-Sauvao, is an exemplar of Duchy life: Emily’s parents have been tenants since 1982 (“the same year I was born”, William notes), and their two daughters now lend a hand with pruning.
They have diversified into growing quinoa, with a focus on working with local bakeries and hotels, and a line in high-end events at the vineyard including food, wine and music pairing. Their award-winning Minerva sparkling wine, which the Prince tries, is priced at £120.
“We’ve chosen the right day for it,” he says, as the sun blazes and swallows fly in blue skies over- head. “Beautiful.”
For this sixteen page article, please click here or click on the link below for the pdf file:
Hannah Furness writes the Your Royal Appointment newsletter every Wednesday – a subscriber-exclusive guide to the Royal family. Sign up here
Prince William is aware of how isolating the lifestyle can be – there are ‘pie and pint’ evenings, regular walks and small parties to get neighbours talking - Credit: Andrew Parsons / Kensington Palace
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