The Duchy of Cornwall farm sales will not put a penny of sale money in Prince William's pocket. Under the rules that govern the estate, proceeds from selling land have to be reinvested inside the Duchy. What William gets is the annual surplus, which came to £21.55 million in the year to 31 March 2026, down from £22.87 million the year before.
Some tenant farmers are now being offered the chance to buy their holdings, and the Duchy has not confirmed how many will be affected. Below: what is being sold, what the Duchy owns, what it pays William, and what the sales do and do not change for him.
What is being sold, and where
In 2026 the Duchy set out a ten-year plan to invest more than £500 million in housing, renewable energy, nature recovery and its heartland communities. To fund it, the estate is selling assets. GB News reported the target as roughly 20% of its property assets over a decade. The Duchy has pushed back on how that figure is read: it told Farmers Weekly in May that it refers to the value of the wider portfolio and does not mean a fifth of its farms or farmland will go, and that no fixed acreage has been set.
So far, three places stand out:
- Bradninch, Devon. The estate near Cullompton has been in the Duchy for centuries. In March, the Press Association reported tenants were "enormously stressed" after being told it would be sold. By late October, the Duchy told Farmers Guide that eight of the nine farming tenants there were in talks to buy some or all of their farms, and about two-thirds of residential tenants were looking at buying their homes.
- Cradley, Herefordshire. In June, about 617 acres near Ledbury went on the market with a guide price of £6.65 million through Fisher German, split into Hill Farm (an eight-bedroom farmhouse and more than 470 acres) and Seed Farm (around 167 acres of arable land). The farm was vacant, so no sitting tenant was involved.
- Duloe, Cornwall, and beyond. According to The Post on 13 November, the Tenant Farmers Association believes up to 40 holdings could be affected across Cornwall, Devon, Herefordshire and the Midlands. The Duchy has not confirmed a number. One sale at Landulph has already completed.
Sitting tenants get first refusal, and the Duchy says any discount reflects "the length of tenure, type of tenancy they have and the investment they have made in the property". Where a farm business tenancy allows a sale with vacant possession, a tenant who cannot raise the money may have to leave. The TFA's George Dunn has called that prospect "a major upheaval".
The Duchy of Cornwall in numbers
The figures below come from the Duchy's Integrated Impact Report 2026, which contains the audited accounts laid before Parliament, and the Royal Finances paper published in June.
| Year to 31 March | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £37.8m | £39.8m |
| Operating costs | £19.9m | £22.8m |
| Net surplus distributable to William | £22.87m | £21.55m |
| Total assets | £1.27bn | £1.33bn |
| Net assets | £1.11bn | £1.16bn |
| Land | Over 51,800 hectares (about 128,000 acres) in 19 counties | |
Revenue went up by around 5%, but costs rose faster, so the payout fell. The Duchy's chief finance officer writes that the surplus has now "fallen for the second successive year", and the report says the dip reflects "a deliberate strategic choice" to invest in the organisation's capacity and capability. The Royal Finances paper rounds net assets to £1.2 billion, mostly investment property.
Does the farm sale money go to Prince William?
No. The Royal Finances paper is explicit: the Duke of Cornwall is entitled to the annual net revenue surplus, but "proceeds from the sale of capital assets are required to be retained and reinvested within the estate". The Duchy's own balance sheet notes say the same, adding that neither revaluation gains nor sale proceeds "are available for distribution to HRH".
That is why William does not pay capital gains tax on Duchy sales: he never receives the gains. Cradley's £6.65 million is only a guide price, but whatever it fetches must stay in the Duchy and be reinvested.
Worth knowing: a sold farm stops paying rent into the revenue account, while the reinvested capital may earn something else. None of the published sources forecasts how that will change the surplus William receives.
Is the Duchy part of Prince William's net worth?
Searches for "Prince William net worth" often turn up the Duchy's value. But the Duchy's £1.16 billion of net assets is not his personal property. The estate was created by Edward III in 1337 and is held for the benefit of current and future Dukes of Cornwall. William, who became the 25th Duke in 2022, cannot sell it for his own benefit, and it does not pass like private property: if there is no Duke, the assets revert to the Crown.
Neither the Royal Finances paper nor the Duchy's audited accounts gives a figure for William's private wealth. The Press Association reports that the surplus funds the official, charitable and private lives of William, the Princess of Wales and their three children.
How the Duchy income is taxed
- Income tax: William pays it voluntarily on Duchy income, to the extent it is not used for official expenditure, under the 2023 Memorandum of Understanding on Royal Taxation.
- Corporation tax: the Duchy pays none, because it is a Crown body covered by Crown exemption.
- Capital gains tax: William does not pay it on Duchy gains, because he does not receive them.
The arrangement is different from the Sovereign Grant, which funds the King's official duties from public money. We explain how that works in our guide to what the royal family costs the UK taxpayer.
What the sales mean for tenants and for William
For affected tenants, the question is whether they can buy their holdings, or may have to leave where a sale requires vacant possession. For William, the sale money itself is out of reach. The next figure to watch is the distributable surplus in the 2026/27 accounts, due next summer, although they may not separate the effect of sales and reinvestment from everything else.
