Royal Family ‘taking millions’ from public services including the NHS and state schools

King Charles and Prince William's estates are set to make £50m from contracts with public services

The investigation from Channel 4's Dispatches and the Sunday Times found that the property empires of King Charles and Prince William will make at least £50m from leasing land to public services.

The Duchy of Lancaster is the estate held by the British sovereign, King Charles, whilst Prince William's estate is called the Duchy of Cornwall.

Together, the two portfolios hold a total of more than 5,400 leases. They are exempt from business taxes and used to fund the royals' lifestyles and philanthropic work.

According to the Dispatches report - called 'The King, The Prince and Their Secret Millions' - the private estates have received millions of pounds of income from contracts with public bodies and charities.

This includes one 15-year deal which will see Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS hospital trust in London pay £11.4m to store its fleet of electric ambulances in a warehouse owned by the Duchy of Lancaster.

Another deal is said to include a £37 million agreement between the Duchy of Cornwall and the Ministry of Justice to lease Dartmoor Prison for 25 years.

The Prince of Wales's estate also includes Camelford House, a tower block on the banks of the Thames built in the 1960s. This block has bought in at least £22m in rents paid by charities and other tenants since 2005.

The cancer charities Marie Curie and Macmillan have both recently moved out of the block to smaller premises.

The investigation also found that many of the residential properties let out by the royal estates were in breach of government efficiency standards. For the Duchy of Cornwall, 14 per cent of homes had an energy performance rating of F or G, whilst it was 13 per cent of homes in the Duchy of Lancaster's case.

The documentary also revealed the estates have contracts with mining companies, raising further environmental concerns.