Faced with crippling
debts, any family or business would look at their assets and sell what they can
to avoid bankruptcy. Why can’t the UK do the same?
Unlike most counties, the
UK has vast treasures, many unseen and unused - land, art, jewels, property and
even the coastline - all part of the Crown Estate. Author David Titmuss says, “why not sell what
we don’t need and don’t use, to help the nation avoid years of austerity and
financial ruin?”
Over 300 years ago,
Charles III signed over all his property to the nation to avoid his own
bankruptcy in return for a yearly grant, called the Civil List (now the
Sovereign Grant). The deal described
both as ‘madness’ and ‘brilliant,’ prompted much debate given the immense value
of the transaction.
While the Queen holds the
Crown Assets as sovereign, they cannot be sold by her but she and her heirs get
the benefit of the jewels, art and palaces.
The question, said Titmuss, author of The Crown Estate is, “do we really
need to keep hold of assets which are valuable yet of little use to the British
people?”
The Royal Art Collection
consists of 272,544 items ranging from small historic objects to 600 drawings
by Lianodo De Vinci. The collection is so vast, no one has ever been able to
calculate a true valuation. Conservative estimates put the value at £10 billion
while other estimates put a price tag of nearly £100 billion.
‘The Crown Estate’ is a
thriller based in the year 2025 where Prince Harry returns to the UK as King.
Titmuss says, “As I researched The Crown Estate, the scale and size of the
Royal assets astounded me. The last painting
sold at auction by Canelleto fetched £11.5 million in 2005. The Queen owns 50 Canelletos so, with art
inflation factored in at 100%, those 50 paintings could be worth over £1
billion alone.”
Titmuss, a staunch
royalist, has written his thriller in lockdown and it is now selling on Amazon
on both sides of the Atlantic. He said,
“I’ve been following the Harry and Meghan story like many others. My thriller, ‘The Crown Estate’ is based in
2025. This year, with the pandemic, has
taught us anything can happen, so I wanted to see ‘what if’ Harry became
King. However, I think it may also be
time to sell some of the nation’s treasures - many unused and unseen - to help
the British people avoid the hardship austerity could bring.”
END
‘The Crown Estate’ is a
thriller set in 2025. An evil Prime Minister and a retired American General
plot to destroy the Royal Family, declare a republic and sell off the nation’s
treasures to sure up an economy wrecked by a socialist government. Harry comes
back as King following the sudden deaths of his brother and father. The Crown
Estate is available on Amazon in paperback and on Kindle and on
uberpublications.com
David Titmuss is available
online to discuss his book, The Crown Estate.
Uber Publication is a
publisher specialising in bringing fiction based on current events quickly to
the market. More details are available from https://uberpublications.com/
.The site currently features The Crown Estate by David Titmuss. Uber publications is keen to work with other
authors who would like to bring their work to the market and avoid the delays
encountered in using traditional book publishers. Please contact caspian@uberpublications.com
for further information.
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