Isle of Wight Literary Festival: Norman Baker

Following on from his irreverent and uncompromising bestseller, And What Do You Do?, former Minister of State and Privy Counsellor Norman Baker goes even deeper into his analysis of royal finances, examining where the money comes from, how it is used and what has changed with the arrival of the new King and a new Prince of Wales.

Norman reveals among other things: how a family that was effectively bankrupt in 1760 is now one of the richest in the country; the uniquely advantageous tax and legislative regime within which the royals operate; how they lobby governments and the media to maximise their take on the public purse and minimise their tax liabilities; the use of the Crown Estate for their own ends; and how other European monarchies’ spending compares.

Norman concludes with a set of proposals to curtail misuse of public funds and create the sort of constitutional monarchy to be found elsewhere in Europe.