Royal Trust

"On the occasion of my 65th birthday, I wish to hand over to the State my properties that contribute to the attractiveness and beauty of the places where they are located."

"The majority of the costs goes to places used by the Royal Family, like the Royal Estate in Laeken and their country residence in the Estate of Ardenne because castles, monumental greenhouses and other parts of Royal Estates have great patrimonial and historical value, it is logical that their maintenance takes up more financial resources than is the case for other properties."

"The Royal Donation is financially completely independent: it is responsible for its own income and expenditure, and manages its own goods and personnel."

"This is undeniably the case: the Royal Endowment has its own legal personality and full financial autonomy. It is completely outside the scope of the federal spending budget."

"Nobody knows how much the property is actually worth. The Royal Trust itself does not know. The last estimate dates from twenty years ago and is still in Belgian francs. In 1999, the assets were estimated by the public finance department at 221 million euros."

"The Court of Audit, for example, analyzes us every year. In the last three years we have received confirmation that the entire administration and the way we work is in accordance with all standards that can be found. But no one ever asked for more information"

"Since castles, monumental conservatories and other parts of royal domains have great patrimonial and historical value, it is logical that their maintenance requires more financial resources than is the case for other properties."

"The bulk of the maintenance costs of the Domain of Laeken relate to the Royal Greenhouses (which are only open to the public three weeks a year, ed.) and the priceless collection of plants whose maintenance has been accepted by the state. In addition, in addition to our own works, government contracts are regularly put out to tender for the renovation of monumental greenhouses. Such as the Congo greenhouse in Laeken, for which around 1.7 million euros has been budgeted in recent years."

"We manage to balance our budget and keep our patrimony in good condition – despite the heavy burdens resulting from the Donation made by King Leopold II – by respecting all the rules that apply to a public institution of the state, under supervision of the Minister of Finance and the Court of Audit."

"The Royal Trust should be able to operate financially autonomously. Now the personal interests of the royal family are too much taken into account. We need to conduct a thorough investigation, after which all options are open, including the cancellation of the Royal Trust and the return of certain domains to the royal family so that they can bear the costs themselves"