Why the Queen’s money never goes down | Letter

Former Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker on public ownership of the crown estate and the result of a stupid' change to the royal finance arrangements by former chancellor George Osborne

It is misleading to suggest that the Queen's land and property" has dropped in value by 500m (Queen's property drops in value by 500m after rental receipts decline, 18 September). The crown estate is public property, handed to the government in 1760 in a deal that in return absolved the monarch of the need to pay for the army, the civil service and so on.

In recent decades Buckingham Palace, and especially Prince Charles, has eyed the estate's profits greedily and been keen to return it to royal hands - but not, of course, to start paying again for those costs removed from the monarch in 1760.