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Quest Means Business
Thousands Wait for Hours to Pay Respects to Queen; Viewing to Close to Public at 6:30 AM Monday; Royal Family Tours U.K. to Greet Public after Queen's Death; Queen Elizabeth II Leaves a Centuries-Old Estate Worth $1 Billion and a Sprawling Portfolio of Nearly 140,000 Acres. Aired 3-4p ET
Aired September 15, 2022 - 15:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[15:00:23]
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: A very good evening to you.
We are now tonight overlooking Westminster, the Palace of Westminster. The numbers in the lines of mourners are growing the best part of five miles of
mourners, which suggests a wait of perhaps 10 to 12 hours.
We are getting more information over the next few days. There will be two minutes of nationwide silence that will mark the passing of the Queen. We
got this as the Palace releases details of Monday's funeral events that will happen and how they will take place.
One other news, President Putin and President Xi, they have a face-to-face meeting as Russia's faltering war with Ukraine is straining the alliance
with China.
And the world's highest paid tennis player is preparing to hang up his racquet. Roger Federer has announced his retirement.
Very good evening to you live from London. It is Thursday, September the 15th. I'm Richard Quest at Westminster.
Tonight, thousands of people will wait through the night to pay respects to their late Queen. The queue to do so is extending nearly five miles. It's
about eight kilometers. The estimated wait time is at least eight-and-a- half hours.
So, what those expect -- those joining the line can expect as they enter Westminster Hall. Earlier, Buckingham Palace announced the Queen's children
will mount a vigil around her coffin on Friday evening.
Now, this will be similar to the one we saw at St. Giles Cathedral in Scotland earlier this week.
Anna Stewart is with me. Anna, let's start. Where are you?
ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: I've now got to Tower Bridge, Richard, sir. A few miles down the river from you, but this queue, as you said has got
longer than we spoke yesterday. It is now just shy of five miles taking people between eight and nine hours.
Good spirits here. Where we are in the queue, people have been here for about an hour at this stage. The weather is holding up, of course, it's got
dark again, and a little bit chilly and it is quite an interesting atmosphere here. I think people are loving meeting each other, sharing
memories of the Queen, talking about the future of the monarchy.
But it's certainly getting their steps in and I spoke to one amazing gentleman earlier today. Take a listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just over an hour.
STEWART: Just over an hour.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
STEWART: And you haven't stopped. You're all sorts of moving constantly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it's fine. Yes, it's great. Yes, no problem at all. We are actually quite enjoying it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a marathon, isn't it?
STEWART: It is a marathon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right. That's what I thought, and I thought I'd have a go this year.
STEWART: What time you hoping to do it in?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we'll get there by eight or nine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Less than 12 hours, don't you think?
STEWART: Less than 12 hours, I'd hope. Roughly, I'm being told it's about six hours at this stage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go.
STEWART: And why do you want to do this? Why do you feel the need to pay respects?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was at the coronation as a young boy.
STEWART: You have the coronation?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
STEWART: And you're walking for miles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Why not?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: Utterly incredible, the coronation being in the 50s. He was a boy at the time. But I'd certainly think there's something to be said about
people doing this not just to pay their respects to the Queen but because it's such a big moment in history, and they want to remember where they
were for it -- Richard.
QUEST: Anna, I did the same thing with the funeral of the Princess of Wales in the late 90s and slept on the streets outside St. Paul's Cathedral the
night of Diana and Charles wedding in 1980 -- whenever it was. So, I can well understand why they can -- why they do it, can't you?
STEWART: Absolutely. And I have to say I look back now very fondly in all sorts of Royal events. I, of course, never actually get to go in anywhere.
But there's something about meeting people and sharing the same experience that makes these moments really stand out, it amplifies the whole
experience and that is certainly what we're seeing today. People are very happy. (AUDIO GAP)
As they approach Westminster Hall, the mood changes, the transition to such a somber moment and lots of tears, I think when we actually see them going
through the hall and seeing that coffin and saying goodbye for the final time -- Richard.
[15:05:00]
QUEST: Anna Stewart, thank you at Tower Bridge.
Buckingham Palace has announced the details or at least more details for the funeral. The day is planned to the minute, arguably the second.
The services will begin at 11:00 AM local time that would be 12:00 in Central Europe, and it will last for roughly an hour. It will end with two
minutes of silence that will be observed throughout the country.
Rehearsals are already underway. You can see the pictures from these.
King Charles is to host a reception for world leaders who will be attending the funeral on Sunday.
Nic Robertson is with me.
Nic, the funeral was well-planned and we know that Her Majesty, The Queen was very much involved in that planning. Do we know of any adjustments and
changes or any modifications that they are now making as a result of getting closer to having to put the plan into operation?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: We're given detailed briefings as you know about precisely what will happen, 10:35 in the
morning, Monday morning, after the doors at Westminster Hall close at 6:30 AM to the public, 10:35, the Queen's coffin removed from the catafalque.
So, we have these detailed timings all the way as you say 11 o'clock, the service begins.
We know exactly the number of sailors who will be pulling the state gun carriage of the Royal Navy, 142 of them. So, we have these details.
' But what we don't have is the sort of pre-version, the last version that the Queen put her pen to. So, it's difficult at the moment to know, you
know what may or may not have been changed and of course, things will change naturally, and something that is going as smoothly as it is so far.
The first thing that gets changed when the event happens generally is the plan to match the time and the place of everything and all the things that
couldn't be predicted, but no, at the moment, these 142 sailors expected to depart Westminster Hall at about 10:44 on Monday morning arriving at
Westminster Abbey. A few minutes later, it's a relatively short walk and then another walk after the hour long service all the way to Wellington
Arch.
So choreographed down to the minute detail. We know that behind the gun carriage as we saw just yesterday, the King and his siblings will be in
immediate step behind the gun carriage, behind the sailors moving it along.
QUEST: Nic, is everything, as best you can tell, is everything going according to plan? Certainly the plans for all the people who will be
arriving are being put into place. Any exceptions or differences that you know of?
ROBERTSON: Not at the moment. You know, for example, there are small details we learned. We know that for example, today King Charles while he
was resting at Highgrove with the Queen Consort took a phone call from King Salman of Saudi Arabia.
We know for example, now that the King of Saudi Arabia's son will visit and pass his personal condolences to King Charles on Sunday. That's expected,
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will come, but he won't stay for the funeral.
So, what's going on in the background behind those tiny details that come to light, we don't know if there had been changes, but there certainly
don't appear to have been any major hiccups.
You know, I think the big hiccups that could come potentially, would obviously be a serious downturn in the weather and potentially some other
events that the security services are obviously looking out for every moment of the day. But you know, aside from this, it is relatively smooth
so far.
QUEST: Nic Robertson at Buckingham Palace. Nic, thank you.
Ukraine's counteroffensive continues to take background and while that happens, President Putin has been meeting with the Chinese President Xi
Jinping in Uzbekistan, and President Putin is acknowledging China's concerns about his war.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:11:23]
QUEST: President Putin has acknowledged that his most powerful ally China has concerns about his invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian President has met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. They were both in Uzbekistan. It is the first face-to-face meeting since the war was
launched by President Putin.
Russia is suffering setbacks on the battlefield. The Ukrainian President Zelenskyy says his fighters have now reclaimed more than 8,000 square
kilometers of territory. You can see it marked here. It's in the yellow in the country's north east, where you can see that they have reclaimed that
ground. The meeting is at a critical moment for both leaders.
Reporting from Hong Kong, CNN's Ivan Watson with the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It did not take long in his face-to-face meeting with the Chinese President for Vladimir Putin
to address the elephant in the room: His deadly invasion of Ukraine.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We highly appreciate the balanced position of our Chinese friends in connection with
the Ukrainian crisis. We understand your questions and concerns in this regard.
During today's meeting, of course, we will explain in detail our position on this issue. Although we have spoken about this before.
WATSON: Questions and concerns sounds like a shift in tone from the last time these two leaders met, that was in early February, at the start of the
Beijing Winter Olympics. And at that time, these two strongmen, they clearly shared their distrust and dislike of the US government. They talked
about a partnership with no limits and they basically hinted at creating a new world order that would not be dominated by the US.
Just a few weeks later, Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine and that war has not gone according to the Kremlin's plan. There have been
multiple humiliations of the Russian military, it's been battered, and Vladimir Putin arguably is more internationally isolated than he has ever
been. He needs China now, more than ever.
Now, in this public statements that we've seen so far from Xi Jinping, he has talked in more generic terms about neutral trust about growing trade
ties, and helping Russia and China defend each other's core interests. But we have not heard a full-throated endorsement of Russia's war in Ukraine,
and the White House has been quick to pick that up arguing that when it comes to this partnership with no limits, it seems to come to an end at
Ukraine's killing fields that the White House the Biden administration, so far has not seen any signs of overt Chinese support for Russia's war
machine in Ukraine. Instead, Beijing has been buying discounted Russian energy supplies.
The Chinese government has made some shows of support elsewhere in symbolic cooperation when it comes to Russia. We're seeing images and announcements
of joint Russian-Chinese naval patrols currently taking place in the Pacific Ocean.
Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: The setbacks and the difficulties doesn't preclude Moscow and Beijing growing closer. For instance, President Xi today says he'll work
with Russia.
[15:15:03]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT (through translator): In the face of changes in the world, times, and history, China is willing to work with Russia to
demonstrate the responsibility of a major country, play a leading role and object stability into a turbulent world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now with me is Ambassador Max Baucus, the former US Ambassador to China. He is with me from Bozeman in Montana.
Ambassador, thank you. Always good to talk to you and I'm very grateful for your time.
Listen, when these leaders, when Xi and Putin get together, I mean, do they sort of sit there and think about, you know, those dreadful -- that
dreadful democracy business that those other people are doing. We've got it better as autocrats -- because they're sort of enemy's -- enemy is my
friend mantra seems to be what's holding them together.
MAX BAUCUS, FORMER US AMBASSADOR TO CHINA: Well, every country pursues its own self-interest. The United States do it as we should, so does China, so
does Russia.
But times have changed. This friendship without limits now seems to have some limits. That is, China is looking at a very weak Russia, and it will
not support Russia nearly as much as Russia wants to be supported. And it's a frankly, unanswered question.
I think President Xi is thinking, okay, I'm in a good spot here. I'm in a much stronger spot that I was going to last February, and I'm taking
advantage of it.
He also, while he is there in Uzbekistan, is taking advantage of visiting with those Central Asian countries, the Chinese ties with those countries
at the expense of Russia. Those countries are very worried about Russian incursion, and he, Xi Jinping is there to help say to them, no, don't
worry, we're here with you.
This is all very important for President Xi because this comes before the October 16th Party Congress. So, he is out. His first venture visit at a
very important part of the world for him, Central Asia, to show to the folks back in China that he is in charge.
QUEST: Looking at the body language between them in the room, one sort of felt that maybe supplicant is a little too strong, but you could see that
Putin seemed to be very much in Xi's shadow in that sense. Xi has most of the cards, is that right? Except for the cheap Russian oil, which he can
now buy from -- which he can now buy.
BAUCUS: No question. Putin is chastised. He is weakened. He is almost humiliated. He has done so poorly in Ukraine and the world knows that and
President Xi knows that. But President Xi is not going to cut Putin off because China needs, as you mentioned, Russian oil.
China needs Russia geopolitically, strategically, but still, it is very clear now who the bigger and stronger brother is. It's certainly China.
It's not Putin.
QUEST: Right. But the big difference here, isn't it, Ambassador, at the end of the day, China will have an industrial mercantilist idea that if there's
business to be done with the US, if that's really where economic growth comes from, then they'll straddle that better than the ideological
philosophies that Putin is now starting to put forward.
BAUCUS: Well, that's true. Generally, economics trumps everything. People want good living standards, and President Xi, also wants to make it very
clear to the Chinese people that he is upholding his part of the bargain. That is, he is helping raise the income of Chinese people.
Xi is in a tough spot right now with COVID and supply chain disruptions and with the problems he has with Ukraine. Now, he has got to really focus on
the Chinese economy to show that he is helping them and working with US is part of that, but that's certainly what he can do.
QUEST: Right now, let's talk about the Chinese economy and the ability of - - the self-inflicted wounds of the Zero COVID Policy has taken its toll not just on the rest of the world, but of course, particularly in China --
having supply chain issues, that they are having, of course. Do you get the feeling that once cemented in place, after the Congress later this year, we
will see a massive reversal of Zero COVID?
BAUCUS: I think you'll see some reversal, but not massive. This is the matter of pride, Zero COVID is Xi Jinping's policy. He is going to keep --
he can't show weakness, he can't show that he is going to change course, but there will be some limitations as the quarantine limitations will start
to ease.
[15:20:11]
BAUCUS: China will begin to let more people into the country, the quarantines will not be nearly as strong, but he's going to do his level
best to show that he has conquered COVID much better than -- don't forget that COVID deaths in China are much lower than here in the US and they are
proud of that.
QUEST: Ambassador, I'm grateful. Thank you, sir.
A griding war and falling energy prices are starting to take their toll on the Russian economy. All revenues are essential to Russia's budget. Now,
you can see the price of Brent crude, that's the European benchmark, which most of the rest of the world follows has now fallen about 25 percent since
the peak in early June, and Russia of course, is selling its oil at a discount.
As trade between Russia and the West has dwindled, China has become a critical trading partner.
CNN's Clare Sebastian with the economic and changing relationship between the two.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In December 2019, a tangible success for Vladimir Putin's pivot east.
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)
SEBASTIAN (voice over): Spanning almost 2,000 miles, the Power of Siberia Pipeline was the first direct link supplying Russian natural gas to China.
That gas to be supplied under a $400 billion 30-year deal signed in 2014 just three months after Russia annexed Crimea, as Western sanctions
tightened their grip.
SAM GREENE, PROFESSOR OF RUSSIAN POLITICS, KING'S COLLEGE LONDON: As Russia decided to essentially go to war with Europe over a trade treaty, over a
comprehensive free trade agreement that Europe wanted to sign with Ukraine, right, which is what provoked the initial intervention in Crimea and in
Eastern Ukraine in 2014.
You know, Putin knew that this was going to bring costs and he knew it was going to bring sanctions and so he saw the relationship with China as an
opportunity to hedge against that.
SEBASTIAN (voice over): Pipelines and pancakes signaled ever closer ties between Presidents Putin and Xi, as both countries saw relations with the
West deteriorate. No surprise then that Putin's last foreign trip before invading Ukraine was to Beijing where the two leaders declared their
relationship had "no limits."
Russia's invasion did reveal some limits. Chinese officials say they have not provided military or economic aid to Russia, but China has refused to
condemn the war, abstaining or voting with Russia at the UN despite international pressure.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that China understands that its economic future is much more closely tied to the West than it is
to Russia.
SEBASTIAN (voice over): And yet trades between Russia and China grew by almost a third in the first seven months of the year according to a Reuters
analysis of customs data. China has ramped up its purchases of, albeit, heavily discounted Russian crude oil, a trend Russia hopes will continue
when a partial EU oil embargo comes into force in December.
And Russia's energy giant, Gazprom says the daily gas flows through the Power of Siberia Pipeline hit a record in July.
This month, the two countries announced China would pay for gas in rubles and yuan, shifting away from the dollar, another sign of their shared
opposition to the US-led world order, something that for China intensified in the wake of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.
GREENE: China is maybe not enjoying but is taking this as an opportunity to see, you know, how the West responds to a military challenge like this, to
see where the breaking points might be.
SEBASTIAN (voice over): The test now with Russia losing ground on the battlefield is whether China's tacit support has a breaking point when
Russia needs it most.
Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Now, we need to engage with the markets because after the volatility and losses that we saw earlier in the week, things are calming down
somewhat. Until you look at that particular number. Now we're seeing a very sharp fall off, a precipitous drop in the market for -- at the moment, not
an obvious or a simple explanation as to why the markets suddenly decided to trend down, but it is down sharply, the Dow 30, we'll show that later
when I show you that and the triple stack, NASDAQ is off very sharply, nearly two percent. It's all the usual worries that we've seen there
before.
Let's stay with money, and this time Royal money. King Charles and the Prince of Wales, his son, William, they will inherit a Royal fortune, but
it won't just be from their mother and grandmother.
[15:30:05]
QUEST: There are billions of dollars' worth of assets that will transfer between various members of the Royal family, from duchess to houses, to
money, after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There's a lot more from here in Westminster this evening.
The Queen's death has triggered one of the biggest transfers of wealth in history. We're going to dig into the details of the Royal inheritances and
different kinds of wealth transfer.
The founder of the outdoor fashion brand, Patagonia, is giving up the company to fight climate change. We will get to all of that, but only after
I've given you the news headlines, because this is CNN and on this network, the news comes first.
President Zelenskyy of Ukraine has met the EU Chief, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the Commission. They met in Kyiv today.
President Zelenskyy gave her a State award in her support during Russia's ongoing invasion. President von der Leyen said that Ukraine is making good
progress towards EU membership.
US railroads and their workers say they've reached a deal to avoid a crippling strike. The tentative agreement was reached after 20 hours of
talks hosted by the US Labor Secretary. Union members will now vote on the deal.
The Governor of the US State of Florida sent two planes of migrants to distant Massachusetts last night. People on the resort island of Martha's
Vineyard provided aid to the 50 arrivals. Governor Ron DeSantis sent the planes with no warning. He is protesting against the Federal border
policies.
Officials in Guatemala said least nine people were killed and 20 others were injured in a stampede at a concert. Witnesses at the venue only had
two exits. The chaos started when people were rushed to leave. The concert was held to celebrate the country's Independence Day.
A warm welcome to our top story: Thousands of people lining up to pay respects to the Queen, and the Royal Family receiving condolences from
around the world.
King Charles has now spoken to several world leaders and that includes the Saudi King, the President of Rwanda, amongst others.
[15:30:00]
And Royals -- members of the Royal family are touring Britain to greet members of the public. Princess Anne and her husband were in Scotland where
they viewed some of the many floral tributes left by the public. Princess Anne and her husband went to Scotland, where they viewed some of the many
floral tributes left by the public.
Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, lit a candle at Manchester Cathedral in memory of his mother.
And the queen's death is prompting one of the biggest transfers of wealth in history. King Charles and his son, William, to be the principal
beneficiaries. So the king will now receive his money from the crown estate, which was the official estate from which the queen derived her
income.
(INAUDIBLE) presented to the sovereign grant. They own probably around London and has huge rights, mineral rights, fishing rights for the seabed
around England, around the country. It's valued at $19 billion U.S.
The king inherits the Duchy of Lancaster. That's worth another $760 million. It has a whole host of agricultural, commercial and rental
properties. William receives the Duchy of Cornwall from his father. And the duchy is worth $1.2 billion. Neither the prince or the king are obliged to
pay taxes on the inheritance although the duchy pays a (INAUDIBLE) tax.
King Charles was actively involved in the management of the Duchy of Cornwall. Anna Stewart reports on the massive inheritance he will now have.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: King Charles arrived by special train when he made his two-day tour of the Duchy of Cornwall.
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A centuries-old estate; it's now a $1 billion-plus inheritance.
When Prince William became the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cornwall, he took on a lot more than titles. He inherits the sprawling Duchy of Cornwall
estate from his father, which covers almost 140,000 acres, mostly across the southwest of England.
Last year, its accounts valued the estate at $1.2 billion and, as the new king, Charles will inherit a lot more.
Royal wills are not made public so what happens to much of the queen's personal wealth, which includes art, jewels and two royal residences, will
likely always remain a secret.
But the bulk of the royal family's wealth, totaling more than $21 billion in land, property and investments, passes down the line of succession. King
Charles, as reigning monarch, inherits the crown estate, making him one of the richest people in the world, by far the biggest of the family fortune,
with an estimated worth of $19 billion.
The land encompasses vast swaths of central London property. Among its holdings are Regent Street, much of the West End, the Ascot racecourse and
even extends to the lucrative seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
EMILY NASH, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR: As Prince of Wales, King Charles had excellent stewardship over his Duchy of Cornwall estate.
And he was able to generate huge income both from properties and land and other investments but also developing products sold by the Duchy of
Cornwall like food, biscuits, honey sold in supermarkets in the U.K., and he's built fantastic brands.
STEWART: In the last year, it generated a net profit of almost $361 billion, driven largely by commercial leases on the land. From that, the
U.K. treasury paid the monarch what's called a sovereign grant, around $100 million.
However, the monarch and his heir are limited in what they can spend. The king can only spend a sovereign grant on royal duties and any profit is
reinvested. Most of this money is spent on maintaining the family's properties and paying their staff -- Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Delighted to have Andrew Hill, the senior business writer for the "Financial Times."
When I read your piece, the years of work that you've put into understanding the royal finances -- I don't want to use the word windfall.
But Charles, who is already very wealthy, because he had the Duchy of Cornwall, which he controlled, how does it compare now he's going to have
the crown estates or the money from the crown estates?
ANDREW HILL, "FINANCIAL TIMES": Well, the crown estates, the money from the crown estate, which was one of Charles' ideas actually in the 1990s, he was
keen to change the system so that they would use the crown estates, the holdings of the crown, in order to pay for the maintenance and operations
of the royal household.
[15:35:00]
HILL: So he is now going to benefit from that payment and also from income from the Duchy of Lancaster.
QUEST: Right, but his work at restructuring and building the Duchy of Cornwall, the other one -- the of Duchy of Cornwall, yes, was he an astute
business man or was he lucky?
HILL: He has himself said he had a baptism of fire at the Duchy of Cornwall, which is the estate that goes to the Prince of Wales. He was only
21 when he took that on. So he clearly did not know much about anything much at 21.
I think he probably has been quite astute. The difference is the Duchy of Cornwall, he was chairing the board of directors, so a bit more hands-on
than he is ever likely to be with the crown estate or the Duchy of Lancaster.
QUEST: I was fascinated, you talk about, the Duchy original biscuits, which are very tasty. But nearly went bust.
HILL: Yes, that wasn't a great success for him.
QUEST: So William now gets the money from the Duchy of Cornwall. He doesn't -- there will be a certain amount that comes from the sovereign's list --
or is he off that?
HILL: The Duchy of Cornwall is what pays for the Prince of Wales.
QUEST: So who's going to pay for all the others?
(CROSSTALK)
QUEST: For example, not that it's necessary anymore. But because Harry's already said he has been cut off from his father. But Charles did use large
parts of his private income from the duchy to pay for his (INAUDIBLE) family.
HILL: Yes, that's right. And I'm not quite sure how that is going to work, because he was using that for his own family, the Duchy of Cornwall. Now he
is crown estate; he has wanted a slimmed-down monarchy, we've talked about this before. That potentially means he's using that money for fewer people.
QUEST: But people like the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, who the queen bailed out on various occasions, I do wonder where this -- if you had to
sum up the money of the royals. They're not stonking rich as Bill Gates is.
HILL: They are rich by most people's standards. I think the monarch, Elizabeth's money, was said to be about 400 million pounds. The private
holdings that she's got, race horses, stamps Balmoral, Sandringham, those are private holdings.
But they don't amount to the $25-$28 billion that some people are put on the entire royal family's wealth, because they simply cannot do anything
with those assets.
QUEST: Right.
What do they own?
(CROSSTALK)
HILL: In the private holdings?
QUEST: Yes.
HILL: Well, that's elements of private jewelry for example. We don't know what's happening with those; the race horses that the queen was so fond of;
the stamp collection, as I said, apart from stamps that she received as monarch, as a gift from other states, there's a range of other things.
So 400 million pounds is not bad but it's not in the Elon Musk, Bill Gates --
QUEST: No, but they do have Sandringham.
HILL: Sandringham and Balmoral. You can't imagine them ever selling that. So in a sense they are stewards for some of this well.
QUEST: All the jewels that we are going to see, in the imperial crown, who gets that?
HILL: They are part of the royal collection so they are essentially lent to whoever gets to wear them. And that is not something that can be sold by
either monarch. They remain part of the royal collection.
And as a Grandview (ph) republican told me in response to my article, if we were a republic, all those things will come back to the republic.
QUEST: When you look at the wealth of the royals, what do you make of it?
They live a life of Rolls-Royces. There are constant questions about the cost of living in this country. But most people seem to say, it's probably
good value, if only because of the tourists that are here.
What do you think?
HILL: I think that's true. I hesitate to say it's real value for money. I think it's very difficult to quantify what you get from brand value, to put
it coarsely.
QUEST: But no inheritance tax.
HILL: And no inheritance tax from sovereign to sovereign. So the transfer from the queen to King Charles, no inheritance tax. When that was arranged,
prime minister John Major said it was to avoid salami slicing. So you'd suddenly find you had to put Buckingham Palace up for sale to pay
inheritance tax.
QUEST: But what about --
(CROSSTALK)
HILL: -- controversial --
QUEST: -- what about the Duchy of Cornwall? That's not sovereign to sovereign.
So is the duchy going to have a sizable tax bill?
HILL: No, I don't think so. I think there are also exemptions there. But I can't be certain about that but I think the same salami slicing applies in
those cases. And a lot of the income tax is volunteered by the royals.
[15:40:00]
HILL: So to some degree, if you're critical of the royals, you're still going to see this as an arrangement that doesn't really compute. But I
think, as you, say most people would say, value for money comes from a lot of the branding that the royal provides.
QUEST: The queen took a great interest in what was in her portfolio.
HILL: She did.
QUEST: She knew what she had. And she was insured -- she insured Android that famous line, of when she went to the bank during the financial crisis,
why didn't anybody see this coming?
HILL: Yes, yes. She was said to be quite an astute manager when she was managing her private investments. But in the case of crown estate,
Lancaster, other people were doing it for her and just telling her what they'd done.
HILL: Thank you, sir.
It's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS and it's our news coverage tonight from Westminster. Roger Federer is now retiring. The legacy he leaves behind in
a moment.
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QUEST: The big story that we all talked about during the course of our morning meetings was the decision by the founder of Patagonia to literally
give away the company. And now Patagonia's only shareholder, he says, will be planet Earth. The idea inspiring new ways of doing business. It's worth
talking about. After the break.
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QUEST: The founder of Patagonia is giving up his company in the name of fighting climate change. Yvon Chouinard and his family are transferring
ownership to two entities. They will put its profits toward protecting nature.
The outdoor brand's roughly valued at $3 billion and he has long espoused the belief that for profit, business can work for the planet.
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YVON CHOUINARD, FOUNDER, PATAGONIA: Not a lot of people understand how serious we are about saving this planet. I'm dead serious.
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QUEST: Bill Weir is with me in New York.
Earth is now our only shareholder.
What do you make of it?
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: It's really interesting, Richard. This guy has been an iconoclast since he started the Patagonia
brand, really just because he was a frustrated climber looking for better gear.
In fact, here is old footage, they did one of the very first adventure films that are all the rage now, with his friend Doug Tompkins, who went on
to start The North Face in 1968.
They went down from San Francisco, the length of South America, surfing, skiing and climbing, these fun hogs, frustrated about the lack of good
gear. So they started these outdoor companies.
But as they got more successful, they would take these adventures and sort of commiserate on the state of capitalism and what it was doing to the
planet. Doug Tompkins went on to sell his fortunes in fashion, buy huge tracts of land and create the best national parks in South America, before
he lost his life in a tragic kayaking adventure with Yvon Chouinard.
Tompkins' idea was to set up national parks to protect pristine nature from the ravages of capitalism. Now Chouinard seems to be trying to reinvent
capitalism in a way now. Instead of extracting to give value to shareholders, their profits will go to the grassroots.
There are over 1,400 different fundees Patagonia already supports, from river keepers or protectors of peatlands or fishing communities all around
the world. So I think it is very symbolic obviously.
But again I think we are in sort of the age of fast fashion, where consumption is only exploding as more of the developed world comes into
means. So it's a interesting thing that will be studied in business schools for a long time.
If you take away that classic profit motive, can you still have a profitable company and do this amount of good?
QUEST: It's interesting. I met Chouinard some years ago, when we did a story on Patagonia.
That -- the issue that you talk about, the ability, where is your priority?
Is your priority to make as much money as you can to help whatever cause or profits or shareholders?
Or is it -- does the climate comes first?
QUEST: He would say I guess, Bill, that it is not a zero-sum game. It's not an equal choice.
WEIR: Exactly. And all those ecosystems, the creatures, the flora or the fauna that don't have seats on boards, that they deserve a voice when it
comes to these massive decisions.
You can see the more circular economy idea, the philosophy of less waste, more thoughtful, reuse, reduce, recycle. Patagonia sells used stuff. They
will fix your old pack rather than try to sell you a new one.
Will that catch on in the age globally of current business?
Remains to be seen. But a lot of environmentalists are encouraged by. This a "The New York Times" reporter who broke the story says he got a call from
a very prominent billionaire, who says he is thinking about doing the same thing. We shall see if this is part of a new trend.
QUEST: Gosh. That's an amazing thought. Bill Weir, thank you sir.
And so to the last few minutes of trading on Wall Street. Look at the Dow. Let's start with the Dow. We have pared losses a bit. But we are down quite
sharply, down around half a percent. Worse over on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. The triple stack will show that particular story.
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QUEST: The Nasdaq, its stocks having the real difficulty. It's all to do with the issues you and I have talked about.
We've talked about inflation, what with the Fed will do next week, a general unease and the realization that perhaps recession is going to be a
certainty.
The Dow 30, only a few winners; United Health is at the top of the 30. So you know it's a bit of a strange day.
Salesforce which has been at the bottom on several occasions now is still down there. But you've got one, two, three, you've got half a dozen stocks
or so that are positive; with the exception of the top two, most of them are middling along. The losses are much greater. That's the way things are
looking.
When we come back, we will take an opportunity to reflect on what has been happening here in London. Just think about it. There are people on the
streets behind me, in fact that is just down there over -- the line goes this way.
The line comes up from over here, goes around and down the embankment and then heads down before there, about nine hours in total. I'll be right
back.
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QUEST: Tonight it's quite literally a "Profitable Moment," a very "Profitable Moment" for the royals, because the transfer of wealth that now
takes place as a result of the queen's passing is quite enormous. The Duchy of Cornwall, from Charles to William. You've then got the crown estates
from the queen's estate over to Charles.
But all of this was well forecast. All of this was well put together. Everybody sort of knows where the money is. There's huge transparency, by
the way. It's all published, the accounts, the taxes. You can read how much was spent, how much the royal plane costs, all of that.
But the murkiness that is how the family is within itself. It's like everybody. They're entitled to their privacy for their own finances. But
it's just fascinating. They have this life of luxury. They have this sense of duty. It's paid for partly by the state. There's great wealth
underneath. And it all works somehow.
END
