Prince of Wales

Officials have defended the Prince of Wales' income and accounting methods amid stern questioning from MPs.

Members of the Commons public accounts committee quizzed royal staff from the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster on Monday as part of an investigation into how the estates are managed.

The spending watchdog was probing the issue of whether the estates, worth in the region of £350 million and £56 million respectively, are run effectively.

The Duchy of Cornwall is a portfolio of land and assets established in the 1300s to provide an income for heirs to the throne, with the Duchy of Lancaster its equivalent for the Queen.

Prince Charles pays tax on the income from his estate at the normal rate of 40 per cent but questions have been raised by the committee over whether they comply with financial standards as the MPs are not allowed to scrutinise their accounts.

They also questioned the public perception of the estates, with Labour's Alan Williams saying £6 million annual income "makes the Prince look like he's won the lottery every year".

He also accused the future king's staff of "failing to understand" how his accounts appeared and claimed the Prince benefits from "the most generous housing benefit in the world".

However Prince's secretary and keeper of the records, Bertie Ross, explained that "the governance of the Duchy of Cornwall is very much controlled by the Treasury".

His staff argued that its practices comply with the Companies Act and industry "best practice".

They also claimed that the Duchy "consistently outperforms" industry benchmarks.

But they insisted how the Prince spends his income is "entirely at his own discretion".

"The Prince of Wales is the owner of the income of the Duchy of Cornwall," Ross said.