In the 1990s when negotiations were ongoing for the Queen to pay income tax, her advisors negotiated a very important clause, exemption of inheritance tax on inheritances she receives and what she passes onto the next monarch. That is why the Queen Mother left all her assets (including jewels and why we always read the Duchess of Cornwall borrows the Queen Mother’s jewels) to the Queen and it is why the Queen will leave all her assets to the Prince of Wales. It was provision very strongly fought for, against considerable criticism from then Opposition and the Queen will take full advantage of it, as will her successors.
The monarch can preserve their personal inheritance and pass it onto the next monarch free of tax including their personal jewels.
The Queen also has the option of designating items as Crown items as Queen Victoria did but you have to remember that by taking such action she would be are giving away control and ownership of her personal assets. There is no advantage to her or her descendants in doing this.
Creating a jewel foundation means GIVING away those assets to a trust/foundation, a legal entity. That is far from ideal.
A trust/foundation costs money to maintain and you lose control of the assets you once held.
It may be logical to evade tax but the Queen already has the perfect solution to this.
The loss of historic items grates but it is clear that those days are now gone from the UK perspective. The Queen has given hardly any historically important jewels away.
The Princess Royal has received hardly anything of true historical importance compared to that of Mary, Princess Royal – her most important tiara seems to have been a tiara belonging to her paternal grandmother that the Queen never wore.
Diana, Princess of Wales received a tiara that was made for Queen Mary less than 70 years previously (and she was always going to be treated in a different category marrying the heir to the throne and even that was returned following her divorce). Sarah Ferguson received nothing of historical importance. The Countess of Wessex received elements of a tiara of Queen Victoria’s but we do not know the terms with which it was given (outright gift? Lifetime loan?) Either way it is difficult to characterise something as being historically important when it appears it hasn’t been worn since Queen Victoria’s time and certainly few would argue it is important from an artistic perspective.
The next generation appear to have received nothing but we have seen the Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge and Countess of Wessex have all borrowed items of jewellery from the Queen. That is the most sensible way to continue to proceed going forward.
511
Responses « Back to index | View thread »