Complaint
A listener complained about reports in the bulletins during the Today programme of a request by King Charles that a surge in profits from six new offshore wind farms on the Crown Estate should be used for the “wider public good”, rather than the Royal Family. Citing Annex C of the Report of the Royal Trustees on the Sovereign Grant 2022-23, the complainant argued that the increased wind farm income would in any case have led to corresponding reduction in the Grant, and that “the Palace…was making a PR virtue out of a necessity”. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s editorial standards of accuracy.
Outcome
Annex C says the likely increase in the Crown Estate’s income would be a “consideration” for a forthcoming review of the Grant, but not that it would necessarily lead to corresponding reduction. While the complainant might be correct in foreseeing such an outcome, it was necessarily a matter of speculation rather than fact at the time the reports were broadcast, and in the ECU’s judgement it was consistent with the BBC’s editorial standards of accuracy to report the King’s request without alluding to this aspect of its context.
Not upheld