The Spectator's Notes | 9 November 2017

Let us assume — which we shouldn’t — that it is automatically wrong for the Queen to benefit financially from funds invested offshore. Let us agree — though we shouldn’t — to declare ourselves shocked that the Duchy of Lancaster put money on her behalf into funds in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, and later, Guernsey. Let us forget — though it is difficult — that she is the Queen of all those places, and therefore that it is almost as strange to complain about her money being in them as it would be to complain about it being invested in Britain. Let us accept — though no evidence has been produced — that tax-dodging is involved. Let us pretend — though it is a strain — to be appalled that the Queen has a stake worth £3,208 in a firm, BrightHouse, which has been criticised for overcharging customers. Having done all of the above, let us notice that these investments were initiated by the Duchy’s financial advisers in 2004 and 2005. Let us recall that the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster always sits in the Cabinet, is responsible for its investment policies and appoints a council to oversee them. And then let us note that, in those years, Britain had a Labour government and that the Chancellors of the Duchy were, until May 2005, Alan Milburn and, after that, John Hutton. Did one or both of these men approve, or at least ignore these heinous acts? Should they, as Jeremy Corbyn puts it, ‘not just apologise’ but also ‘recognise what it does to our society’?