November 2020
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.”
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‘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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