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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jian" data-source="post: 9820035" data-attributes="member: 78087">Also read Royal Mint, National Debt, out this year from Norman Baker, a former Liberal Democrat MP. His earlier book about the British royal family (And What Do You Do, 2019) was generally excellent but a little short on facts and figures, and this book corrects this and then some. It’s a good companion piece to Andrew Lownie’s book about Andrew and Fergie, and indeed RMND has a whole chapter devoted to just how corrupt Andrew is and has been, and continues to be (via Startupbootcamp, an international successor to Pitch@Palace).There’s a lot there - how ruthless the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall are (William is, if anything, even more grasping than his father was as Prince of Wales, and that takes some doing), how poorly they treat their staff, the complete lack of transparency and accountability at every level, and above all their relentless and increasing greed and selfishness. Charles’ idea of a “slimmed down monarchy” is clearly just about doing even less work and answering even fewer questions while getting even more money (the Sovereign Grant has increased about 29% a year on average over the last 15 years).Baker is explicitly not a republican - he just thinks the monarchy ought to be better regulated and more transparent - but I now have to disagree.</blockquote>