Camilla an 'after-tax expense'
2005-02-04 22:41
London - Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, faces parliamentary questioning about whether taxpayers' money is being spent on his live-in partner, Camilla Parker Bowles.
A parliamentary committee will question one of Charles's financial aides on Monday over whether Parker Bowles shares the use of his staff, whose salaries are paid with pre-tax income from the prince's Duchy of Cornwall estate.
The duchy's chief executive, Bertie Ross, will appear before a House of Common's committee, the prince's office confirmed.
The Duchy of Cornwall, given to Charles on his 21st birthday from his mother Queen Elizabeth II, provides the prince's sole source of income.
He gets a salary from the profits - though does not own the capital - of the 57 000-hectare duchy, which has existed since the 14th century to provide revenue for Britain's heir apparent.
But the prince's office insisted that Parker Bowles's staff was paid for by the prince with income he had paid tax on.
"There is no cost to the taxpayer for Mrs. Parker Bowles," a spokeswoman said.
Charles's revelations last summer that Parker Bowles had taken a spot in his official household at London's Clarence House - and thus was incurring expenses - marked a further step in formalising a union over which Britain remains divided.
Many believe Charles, 56, would like to one day marry Parker Bowles, 57, whom he has known for years, but it is an extremely delicate situation given both their pasts and the prince's constitutional position.
Charles was previously married to Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in Paris in August 1997, a year after the couple divorced and two years after Parker Bowles divorced her own husband.
The issue of whether the royal heir can marry a divorcée has vexed constitutional experts for years, since the British monarch is the titular head of the Anglican church and thus officially expected to be beyond moral reproach.
Conservative Anglicans have long expressed opposition to Charles and Parker Bowles being wed in a church, given their well-documented adultery with each other during their marriages.