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Management and Finances
The Prince's Council
Individuals with expertise in various areas of business within which the Duchy operates, including agriculture, commercial property, estate management, law and finance, are appointed to The Prince’s Council to represent His Royal Highness’s interests and provide advice with regard to the management of the Duchy. With the exception of The Secretary and Keeper of the Records, to whom executive responsibility for the management of the Duchy has been delegated, The Prince's Council is a non-executive body. The Council typically meets twice a year and the specialist sub-committees meet throughout the year.
There are four “proper officers”:
The Lord Warden of the Stannaries, Sir Nicholas Bacon, who is a
Norfolk landowner with commercial interests predominantly in London, and
a committee member of the National Trust.
The Receiver General, James Leigh-Pemberton, who is a Managing
Director with the merchant bank Credit Suisse.
The Attorney-General to His Royal Highness, Jonathan Crow QC,
formerly First Treasury Counsel (Chancery), who is a practising
barrister, specialising in company and commercial litigation and public
law.
The Secretary and Keeper of the Records, Bertie Ross, the chief
executive.
The financial strategy for the Duchy is driven by the Finance and
Audit Committee. Financial expertise comes from: James
Leigh-Pemberton, Receiver General, who is a managing director with
the merchant bank Credit Suisse; Robin Broadhurst, currently a
non-executive director of Grosvenor Estates and a consultant to Sir
Robert McAlpine, and previously European Chairman of Jones Lang LaSalle,
a real estate services and money management firm; Nick Hood who
is chairman of @Bristol and was previously chairman of Wessex Water;
Sir Michael Peat, a chartered accountant, who is the Prince of
Wales’ Principal Private Secretary and who worked in the City with KPMG
before joining The Queen’s Household as Keeper of the Privy Purse and
Treasurer to the Queen; Sir Nicholas Bacon, the Lord Warden of
the Stannaries; and Lord Rothschild Chairman of J Rothschild & Co
Ltd, Five Arrows Ltd, and RIT Capital Partners. Nick Hood, James
Leigh-Pemberton, and Nicholas Bacon also sit on the Remuneration
Committee.
Advice on agricultural and rural matters comes through the Agricultural Committee. Current members are:
Sir Nicholas Bacon, the Lord Warden of the Stannaries; The Countess of Arran DL, who runs a traditional rural estate in Devon and has a wide interest in the South West;
Jonathan Coode who has practised for 35 years as a solicitor in the country, latterly as senior partner of a firm with seven offices in Cornwall and Devon. Jonathan is a past President of the Cornwall Law Society and is currently Chairman of the Royal Cornwall Agricultural Association and President of the Cornwall Federation of Young Farmers Clubs. Jonathan owns and manages an Estate with farms in Cornwall and Devon; and
Mark Thomas, the tenant of a beef and sheep farm near Launceston, Cornwall, belonging to the Carlyon estate, who is Chairman of the South West branch of the National Beef Association, a board director of Meat South West, and the breed promotion adviser to the South Devon Herd Book Society.
The Commercial Property and Development Committee considers the
core portfolio of commercial properties which the Duchy owns together
with smaller scale property developments undertaken on Duchy land. In
addition to sitting on the Finance Committee Robin Broadhurst
serves on this committee, along with: Sir Christopher Howes,
non-executive Chairman of Barclays Bank’s Property Finance team and a
member of the Private Bank’s Advisory Board, a Director of the Howard de
Walden Estate and the Colville Estate Ltd. Sir Christopher was the Chief
Executive of the Crown Estate from 1989 to 2000, and has served as a
member of the Council of the Duchy of Lancaster; and Charles Morris,
not a member of Council, but who provides advice and guidance on design
matters. Charles is a well renowned designer of buildings and small
scale developments.
Also on The Prince’s Council is The Duke of Westminster, Chairman
of Grosvenor, a privately owned international property group.
Bertie Ross, the Secretary and Keeper of the Records,
sits on all Council Committees. Various other members of the Duchy
Executive are also members of these committees, and attend Council
meetings.