AN SNP MP has demanded it be made public if the Queen helped fund Prince Andrew’s £12 million sexual assault case settlement.
Tommy Sheppard is seeking a new law that will force royals to publish details about spending from their Duchy of Lancaster estate.
Sheppard's demands come in response to Prince Andrew reaching a multi-million pound out-of-court settlement with Virginia Giuffre over allegations he sexually assaulted her when she was 17.
It is yet unclear how Prince Andrew funded the payment but questions have been raised about whether the Queen assisted him financially.
Sheppard said: “Most people would find it quite shocking if funds were used in this way, and they would want the money paid back.”
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And Sheppard is now looking to find out whether money from the Duchy of Lancaster, the monarch’s £500m estate, was used to help pay Giuffre the £12m settlement.
Unlike the Sovereign Grant, income the Queen receives from the Crown Estate, money the monarch receives from the Duchy is not made public.
And according to Sheppard, the UK Government-run Duchy is an “organ of the state”, not a collection of private assets.
The SNP MP has written to Boris Johnson to demand that details of Duchy spending be made open to the public.
He wrote: “While the Duchy of Lancaster publishes annual accounts of how that money has been raised, it is simply handed over to the Royal Household with no further checks.
“Once in the Privy Purse, it vanishes from all public scrutiny and accountability, despite its public origin.”
He added: “This is especially important in light of recent allegations. Media
organisations have widely reported that Prince Andrew reached a settlement with Virginia Giuffre that included him paying her £12million.
“There has been wide speculation that this money came from the Queen.”
Sheppard has made the case that the UK Government create a law “similar to the Sovereign Grant Act 2011” to make the Duchy income public.
This is not the first time Sheppard has raised the issue as he previously wrote to Sir Michael Stevens, keeper of the privy purse, about it.
In his reply to Sheppard, Stevens said that funds from the Duchy are part of the Queen’s personal income and are used primarily to support Royal Family members in carrying out official duties.
When asked if any money was used to assist Prince Andrew in paying his settlement, Stevens said he did not have “anything to add”.
Sheppard told the Daily Record that the Duchy’s response was a “little dismissive”.
He said: “It is not the Queen’s private wealth. The Duchy of Lancaster is not private, it is part of the state. The Queen only has access to it as long as she is Queen. She can’t take it with her. It comes with the office.”
He added: “Given I have been told to take a running jump, I think we need a law.”
When Sheppard was asked if he thought that Duchy resources were used to help pay the settlement, he said: “Sort of, because otherwise why would you not just explicitly dismiss the question? To refuse to answer plants that suspicion.”
Prince Andrew has denied Giuffre’s allegations and has made no admission of liability as part of the £12m settlement.
The UK Treasury has confirmed that no public money was involved in the payment of the settlement, which would rule out money from the Sovereign Grant.
The Duchy of Lancaster has been contacted for comment.
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