HC Deb 25 May 1937 vol 324 cc247-9

Resolutions reported:

1. CONSOLIDATED FUND. That there be charged on the Consolidated Fund as from the last demise of the Crown the following annual sums (subject to adjustment in respect of parts of a year):

For the King's Civil List: £410,000; For retired allowances: Such sums as may be required for the payment of retired allowances granted, on scales and in accordance with conditions approved from time to time by the Treasury, by His Majesty to or in respect of persons who have been members of the Royal Household; For Civil List pensions: Such sums as may be required for the payment in each year of Civil List pensions already granted and Civil List pensions hereafter to be granted, so, however, that the aggregate of the pensions granted in any financial year shall not exceed £2,500 a year; For Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in the event of her surviving His Majesty: £70,000; For the benefit of the children of His Majesty, other than Her Royal Highness the Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Cornwall for the time being: £10,000 in respect of each son who attains the age of 21 years, and a further £15,000 in respect of each such son who marries; and £6,000 in respect of each daughter who attains the age of 21 years or marries; For Her Royal Highness the Princess Elizabeth: £6,000 and, unless there is at that time a Duke of Cornwall living, a further £9,000 when Her Royal Highness attains the age of 21 years; For His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester: £10,000; and that provision be made for continuing for a period of six months after the close of the present reign certain payments charged as aforesaid upon the Consolidated Fund which would otherwise then be determined:

Provided that—

  1. (i) no payments shall be made under this Resolution to Their Royal Highnesses the Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Gloucester in respect of any period during which the Duchy of Cornwall is vested in His Majesty or any period during which the Duke of Cornwall for the time being is a minor, unless the net revenues of the 248 Duchy for the year fall short, as respects the first period, of the total payments which would, but for this proviso, be required to be so made to Their Royal Highnesses for that year, and as respects the second period, of the said sums with the addition of £25,000, and in the event of such a deficiency the payment to be so made to His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester shall not exceed the amount of the deficiency, and the payment to be so made to Her Royal Highness the Princess Elizabeth shall not exceed the amount of the deficiency less the amount of the payment, if any, so made to His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester;
  2. (ii) the sum of £410,000 for the King's Civil List shall be subject, as respects any period during which the Duchy of Cornwall is vested in His Majesty, to a reduction of an amount equal to the net revenues of the Duchy for the year less the sums, if any, which would, but for the preceding proviso, be payable under this Resolution out of the Consolidated Fund to Their Royal Highnesses the Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Gloucester.

The sums payable under this Resolution for His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester shall be in addition to any sums payable to him under section five of the Civil List Act, 1910.

The foregoing provisions of this Resolution shall, in the event of Her Royal Highness the Princess Elizabeth predeceasing His Majesty, have effect, as respects any period subsequent to that event, as if the references to Her Royal Highness were references to that one of His Majesty's daughters who thereby becomes His eldest surviving daughter."

2. DUCHY OF CORNWALL. That it is expedient to enable His Majesty on behalf of any son of His Majesty being Duke of Cornwall to assent to arrangements whereby during the minority of the said Duke the following annual payments may (subject to adjustment in respect of parts of a year) be made out of the net revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, that is to say—

  1. (a) payments equal to those which, but for the fact that the Duke of Cornwall for the time being is a minor would be made out of the Consolidated Fund to Their Royal Highnesses the Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Gloucester, so, however, that in any year in which the net revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall fall short of the said payments with the addition of £25,000, the payment to be made to His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester shall be reduced by the amount of the deficiency and the payment to be made to Her Royal Highness the Princess Elizabeth shall be reduced by the amount of the deficiency less the amount of the payment to His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester;
  2. (b) a payment to the Exchequer computed in each year by applying to the net revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall for the year, reduced by £25,000, the standard rate of Income Tax for the year of assessment in which that year ends and the higher rates of Income Tax (less the standard rate) for the preceding year of assessment which 249 would be applicable in the case of an individual having a total income equal to those net revenues so reduced;
  3. (c) if the total of the payments made in any year under paragraph (a) of this Resolution are less than £25,000, a further payment to the Exchequer equal to the difference;
  4. (d) a payment of £25,000, to be applied in part for the purpose of the maintenance and education of the said Duke of Cornwall and in part for the purpose of accumulating sums to be applied in making suitable provision for any future wife of the said Duke, and so far as not required for the purpose of making such provision, in any manner authorised by or under any Act of the present Session,
so, however, that if the said payments exceed in the aggregate the net revenues of the Duchy, the sum payable to the Exchequer may, with the consent of the Treasury, be reduced by an amount not greater than the excess; and to make other provision to facilitate the carrying into effect of any such arrangements. The foregoing provisions of this Resolution shall, in the event of Her Royal Highness the Princess Elizabeth predeceasing His Majesty, have effect, as respects any period subsequent to that event, as if the references to Her Royal Highness were references to that one of His Majesty's daughters who thereby becomes His eldest surviving daughter.

3. AMENDMENT OF LAW. That it is expedient to amend the law relating to the Civil List, the hereditary revenues and Grants for the Royal Family:

Resolutions agreed to.

Bill ordered to be brought in upon the said Resolutions by the Chairman of Ways and Means, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, Sir John Simon, and Lieut-Colonel Colville.

The Minister of Health (Sir Kingsley Wood)

acquainted the House that His Majesty, having been informed of the subject-matter of the Bill, so far as it relates to the Duchy of Cornwall, recommends it to the consideration of the House.