Revealed: King Charles secretly profiting from the assets of dead citizens

Exclusive: Assets of thousands of people in north-west England used to upgrade king's property empire via archaic custom

• He would turn in his grave': the dead whose assets went to King Charles's estate
• How bona vacantia is used to collect money from dead people

The king is profiting from the deaths of thousands of people in the north-west of England whose assets are secretly being used to upgrade a commercial property empire managed by his hereditary estate, the Guardian can reveal.

The Duchy of Lancaster, a controversial land and property estate that generates huge profits for King Charles III, has collected tens of millions of pounds in recent years under an antiquated system that dates back to feudal times.