Who actually owns Buckingham Palace? It was purchased by King George III in 1761 and passed to his son, George IV. But I have been told that the wills of George III and George IV have never been settled. | Notes and Queries

Who actually owns Buckingham Palace? It was purchased by King George III in 1761 and passed to his son, George IV. But I have been told that the wills of George III and George IV have never been settled. | Notes and Queries | guardian.co.uk

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RED TAPE, WHITE LIES

Who actually owns Buckingham Palace? It was purchased by King George III in 1761 and passed to his son, George IV. But I have been told that the wills of George III and George IV have never been settled.

UNDER the Land Registration Act 1988, anyone is entitled to find out the ownership of registered land in England and Wales. Of some 22 million properties and plots of land in England and Wales, more than 13 million are registered - although the remaining nine million are not. Assuming that Buckingham Palace is registered, then you can find out the identity of the freeholder for a fee of #12. A leaflet on the procedure is available from HM Land Registry, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PH.
David Northmore (author, The Freedom Of Information Handbook), London W1.

I DOUBT very much that the Land Register will answer the question. While land in Central London has been subject to registration since the end of the 19th century, registration is only effective if there is a 'dealing' with the land within the meaning of the various Land Registration Acts. By and large, this means that there has to have been a sale of the land, for a transmission on death effective by a 'assent' does not need to be registered. I suspect that the title to Buckingham Palace is not registered, for it has apparently been in the ownership of the same family for nearly 23O years. This is always assuming that the family has not sold the palace, say, to the Property Services Agency or one of its predecessors in recent years. For this reason, the register is unlikely to reveal the ownership of property belonging to old landed families generally.
Thomas C Sutton & Co, Solicitors, Bishop Auckland, Co Durham.

THERE IS an important distinction between property which belongs to the Royal Family and property which belongs to the State and is made available to Head of State in the way that 10 Downing Street is available to the Head of Government. The distinction is not obvious because both the personal property of the monarch and the job of Head of State pass through the same line. But the distinction was made in 1936. I am not sure of the details - perhaps someone else can enlighten us.
Quentin Langley, Woking (quentin@cableol.co.uk)

Occupied Royal Palaces, such as Buckingham Palace, are not the private property of The Queen. They are occupied by the Sovereign and held in trust by Crown Estates for future generations. The Queen privately owns two properties, Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House, which are not publicly funded.
Mark, Ramsgate UK

Buckingham House (now Palace) was purchased by Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg and immediately called her house, or "the Queen's house". She, with the aid of O'Gorman, hired an Irish Guard to protect herself from mad George III, who continued to live in St. James Court. It has remained in Charlotte's family for many years, and only in recent years, been quietly bought by the royal family.
L.J. d'Eon, Boston U.S.A.

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