66-439: A duke is an aristocrat of very high rank. Duke or The Duke may also refer to: Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy , or of a member of royalty , or nobility . As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes , grand dukes , and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranked below princes and grand dukes. The title comes from French duc , itself from
132-400: A grandeeship of Spain . The current royal duchesses are Infanta Margarita, Duchess of Soria (although she inherited the title of Duchess of Hernani from her cousin and is the second holder of the title), and Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo . In Spain all dukes hold the court rank of grandee, which has precedence over all other noble titles. The last non-royal hereditary dukedom created was
198-534: A fief of Denmark and Holstein being a fief of the Holy Roman Empire . Key parts of Finland were sometimes under a Duke of Finland during the Swedish reign (until 1809). Some of the provinces are still considered duchies for the purposes of heraldry. In Norway, Skule Bårdsson was first jarl in 1217, and as such got responsibility for the army, and then in 1237, as another attempt at compromise, Skule
264-665: A higher title, just below king. In the United Kingdom, the inherited position of a duke along with its dignities, privileges, and rights is a dukedom . However, the title of duke has never been associated with independent rule in the British Isles: they hold dukedoms, not duchies (excepting the Duchy of Cornwall and the Duchy of Lancaster ). Dukes in the United Kingdom are addressed as "Your Grace" and referred to as "His Grace". Currently, there are thirty-five dukedoms in
330-462: Is administered on behalf of the sovereign by the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster , a government minister appointed by the sovereign on the advice of the prime minister, and by the clerk of the council. The former position is sometimes held by a cabinet minister, but is always a ministerial post. For at least the last two centuries the duchy has been run by a deputy; the chancellor has rarely had any significant duties pertaining to its management but
396-588: Is an estate of the British sovereign . The estate has its origins in the lands held by the medieval Dukes of Lancaster , which came under the direct control of the monarch when Henry Bolingbroke , the then duke of Lancaster, ascended the throne in 1399. In 1461 King Edward IV confirmed that the Duchy would be inherited by the monarch, but held separately from the Crown Estate , the other assets which belong to
462-410: Is available as a minister without portfolio and is answerable to Parliament for the effective running of the estate. The monarch derives the privy purse from the revenues of the duchy. The surplus for the year ended 31 March 2015 was £16 million and the duchy was valued at just over £472 million. Its land holdings are not to be confused with the Crown Estate , whose revenues have been handed to
528-471: Is primarily a landed inheritance belonging to the reigning sovereign (now Charles III ). When George III surrendered his income from Crown lands in exchange for the Civil List , the Duchy of Lancaster was not mentioned at all as it was bankrupt for most of the century, due to previous monarchs selling its assets or granting leases for political favours. The monarch now does not have the right to sell off
594-477: Is the territory or geopolitical entity ruled by a duke, whereas his title or area is often called a dukedom. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a fully independent state and its head, the Grand Duke, is a sovereign monarch reigning over his Luxembourgish subjects. The Duke of Cornwall holds both the dukedom (title) and duchy (estate holdings), the latter being the source of his personal income; those living on
660-603: The Duke of Spoleto and the Duke of Benevento were de facto sovereigns. In 575, when Cleph died, a period known as the Rule of the Dukes , in which the dukes governed without a king, commenced. It lasted only a decade before the disunited magnates, to defend the kingdom from external attacks, elected a new king and even diminished their own duchies to provide him with a handsome royal demesne . The Lombard kings were usually drawn from
726-525: The Furness area of Cumbria . The Duchy of Lancaster is one of two royal duchies : the other is the Duchy of Cornwall , which provides income to the Duke of Cornwall , a title which is held by the monarch's oldest son. As the Lancaster inheritance, the estate dates to 1265, when Henry III granted his younger son, Edmund Crouchback , lands forfeited by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester . In 1266,
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#1732783441664792-594: The House of York , which later fought for the throne with John of Gaunt's Lancastrian descendants during the Wars of the Roses . By 1483, a total of 16 ducal titles had been created: Cornwall, Lancaster, Clarence, Gloucester, York, Ireland , Hereford , Aumale , Exeter , Surrey , Norfolk , Bedford , Somerset , Buckingham , Warwick and Suffolk . Some became extinct, others had multiple creations, and some had merged with
858-476: The Latin dux , 'leader', a term used in republican Rome to refer to a military commander without an official rank (particularly one of Germanic or Celtic origin), and later coming to mean the leading military commander of a province. In most countries, the word duchess is the female equivalent. Following the reforms of the emperor Diocletian (which separated the civilian and military administrations of
924-570: The Peerage of England , Peerage of Scotland , Peerage of Great Britain , Peerage of Ireland and Peerage of the United Kingdom , held by thirty different people, as three people hold two dukedoms and two hold three (see List of dukes in the peerages of Britain and Ireland ). All dukedoms in the UK apart from the Duchy of Lancaster are inherited through the male line only, although dukedoms such as Marlborough and Fife (second creation) have passed through
990-630: The Principality of Achaea , so Robert received Achaea from John in exchange for 5,000 ounces of gold and the rights to the diminished Kingdom of Albania . John took the style of Duke of Durazzo . In 1368, Durazzo fell to Karl Thopia , who was recognized by Venice as Prince of Albania . The Visigoths retained the Roman divisions of their kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula and it seems that dukes ruled over these areas. They were
1056-618: The Savoy Estate in London . As of the financial year ending 31 March 2022, the estate was valued at £652.8 million. The net income of the duchy is paid to the reigning sovereign and amounts to about £24 million per year. The Duchy exercises some powers and ceremonial duties of the Crown in the historic county of Lancashire , which includes the current ceremonial counties of Lancashire , Greater Manchester , and Merseyside , as well as
1122-560: The barmote courts on behalf of the sovereign in right of the duchy. Since the Local Government Act 1972 , the monarch in right of the duchy appoints the high sheriffs and lords lieutenant in Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Lancashire. Both the duchy of Lancaster and the duchy of Cornwall have special legal rights not available to other estates held by peers or counties palatine . For example, in
1188-570: The 19th century, the sovereign dukes of Parma and Modena in Italy, and of Anhalt , Brunswick-Lüneburg , Nassau , Saxe-Coburg-Gotha , Saxe-Meiningen and Saxe-Altenburg in Germany survived Napoleon's reorganization. Since the unification of Italy in 1870 and the end of monarchy in Germany in 1918, there have no longer been any reigning dukes in Europe; Luxembourg is ruled by a grand duke ,
1254-580: The Belgian crown), such as Count of Flanders ( King Leopold III 's so-titled brother Charles held the title when he became the realm's temporary head of state as prince-regent ) and Prince of Liège (a secularised version of the historical prince-bishopric ; e.g. King Albert II until he succeeded his older brother Baudouin I ). When the Christian Reconquista , sweeping the Moors from
1320-462: The Crown, to which it was forfeited on the attainder of Henry VI . The duchy thereafter passed to the reigning monarch. On the death of King Charles I , the duchy came under the control of Parliament; this lasted until the restoration of King Charles II in 1660. In 1760, its separate identity preserved it from being surrendered with the Crown Estates in exchange for the civil list . It
1386-531: The Roman provinces), a dux became the military commander in each province. The title dux , Hellenised to doux , survived in the Eastern Roman Empire where it continued in several contexts, signifying a rank equivalent to a captain or general. Later on, in the 11th century, the title Megas Doux was introduced for the post of commander-in-chief of the entire navy. During the Middle Ages
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#17327834416641452-458: The Treasury since the 18th century in exchange for the receipt of a yearly payment. The Duchy Council's primary officers carrying out the estate's day-to-day duties are the clerk of the council of the duchy of Lancaster (the chief executive officer), the chairman of the council, and the chief finance officer. The chancellor is responsible for the appointment of the steward and the barmaster of
1518-532: The United Kingdom bona vacantia ("ownerless property") is generally administered by the Crown, but within the county palatine is administered by the duchy. The holdings of the duchy are divided into eight units called surveys: five rural, one urban, one foreshore and one mineral. The rural surveys make up most of the assets and area but the urban survey generates a greater income. The holdings were accrued over time through marriage, inheritance, gift and confiscation, and in modern times by purchase and sale. As of
1584-553: The capital assets for personal gain. In 1830, the Whigs argued that revenues from the two duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall should go to the public, but to secure King William IV 's support for the Reform Act 1832 they eventually approved the civil list and left the duchies in possession of the royal family. Parliament debated the two duchies' ownership multiple times, including when Queen Victoria and King Edward VII ascended
1650-584: The constituent duchies of the kingdom of Germany at the time of the extinction of the Carolingian dynasty (the death of Louis the Child in 911) and the transitional period leading to the formation of the Holy Roman Empire later in the 10th century. In Anglo-Saxon England, where the Roman political divisions were largely abandoned, the highest political rank beneath that of king was ealdorman , and
1716-532: The crown upon the holder's accession to the throne. When the Plantagenet dynasty came to an end at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485, only four ducal titles remained extant, of which two were now permanently associated with the crown. John de la Pole was Duke of Suffolk and John Howard was Duke of Norfolk (2nd creation), while the duchy of Cornwall was reserved as a title and source of income for
1782-498: The current European monarchies of Belgium, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Other historical cases occurred for example in Denmark, Finland (as a part of Sweden) and France, Portugal and some former colonial possessions such as Brazil and Haiti. In the United Kingdom, a royal duke is a duke who is a member of the British royal family , entitled to the style of " His Royal Highness ". Ducal titles which have been given within
1848-477: The death of the Black Prince, the duchy of Cornwall passed to his nine-year-old son, who would eventually succeed his grandfather as Richard II . The title of Duke of Lancaster was created by Edward III in 1351 for Henry of Grosmont , but became extinct upon the duke's death in 1361. The following year, Edward III bestowed the title (2nd creation) on his fourth son, John of Gaunt , who was also married to
1914-572: The dispossession from Richard II ). His first act as Henry IV was to declare that the Lancastrian inheritance be held separately from the other possessions of the Crown and should descend to male heirs. This separation of identities was confirmed in 1461 by Edward IV when he incorporated the inheritance and the palatinate responsibilities under the title of the Duchy of Lancaster, and stipulated that it be held separate from other inheritances by him and his heirs, but would however be inherited with
1980-457: The ducal estates are subjects of the British sovereign and owe neither fealty nor services to the duke per se . In Scotland, the male heir apparent to the British crown is always the Duke of Rothesay as well, but this is a dukedom (title) without a duchy. Similarly, the British monarch rules and owns the Duchy of Lancaster as Duke of Lancaster , but it is held separately from the Crown, with
2046-734: The duchy established a rebalancing asset plan and sold most of the Winmarleigh estates farms in Lancashire, and donated a plot of land to the Winmarleigh Village Hall committee by June 2012. In 2017, the Paradise Papers revealed that the duchy held investments in two offshore financial centres , the Cayman Islands and Bermuda . Both are British Overseas Territories of which Queen Elizabeth II
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2112-534: The duchy of Holstein , in personal union with the Danish crown, was nonetheless always a German principality. The two duchies jointly became a member of the German Bundesland as " Schleswig-Holstein " in the 19th century. Beginning in the 11th century, Danish kings frequently awarded the title of jarl (earl) or duke of Schleswig to a younger son of the monarch. Short-lived dukedoms were created for
2178-432: The duke pool when the title was not hereditary. The dukes tried to make their own offices hereditary. Beneath them in the internal structure were the counts and gastalds , a uniquely Lombard title initially referring to judicial functions, similar to a count's, in provincial regions. The Franks employed dukes as the governors of Roman provinces, though they also led military expeditions far from their duchies. The dukes were
2244-598: The dukes, who called up the thiufae when necessary. When the Lombards entered Italy, the Latin chroniclers called their war leaders duces in the old fashion. These leaders eventually became the provincial rulers, each with a recognized seat of government. Though nominally loyal to the king, the concept of kingship was new to the Lombards and the dukes were highly independent, especially in central and southern Italy, where
2310-538: The eldest son of the sovereign, and the duchy of Lancaster was now held by the monarch. Norfolk perished alongside Richard III at Bosworth field, and the title was forfeit. It was restored to his son Thomas thirty years later by Henry VIII , as one of a number of dukes created or recreated by the Tudor dynasty over the ensuing century. England's premier ducal title, Norfolk, remains in the Howard family to this day. In
2376-535: The estates of Robert de Ferrers, 6th Earl of Derby , another protagonist in the Second Barons' War , were added. In 1267 the estate was granted as the county, Honour and Castle of Lancaster. In 1284 Edmund was given the Manor of Savoy near London by his mother, Eleanor of Provence , the niece of the original grantee, Peter II, Count of Savoy . Edward III raised Lancashire into a county palatine in 1351, and
2442-419: The female line for one generation under terms of a special remainder for lack of male heirs of the initial grantee. Henrietta, 2nd Duchess of Marlborough and Her Highness Princess Alexandra (HRH Princess Arthur of Connaught), 2nd Duchess of Fife were duchesses in their own right. Both were succeeded in their titles by nephews born by younger sisters of the duchesses. The word duchess is normally only used for
2508-414: The financial year ending 31 March 2022, the estate was valued at £652.8 million. The net income of the duchy is paid to the reigning sovereign, and amounts to about £24 million per year. As the duchy is an inalienable asset of the Crown held in trust for future sovereigns, the current sovereign is not entitled to the portfolio's capital or capital profits. The Duchy of Lancaster is not subject to tax, but
2574-435: The first duke's daughter. On the same day Edward III also created his second son, Lionel of Antwerp , as Duke of Clarence . All five of Edward III's surviving sons eventually became dukes. In 1385, ten years after their father's death, his heir Richard II created dukedoms for his last two uncles on the same day. Thomas of Woodstock was named Duke of Gloucester and Edmund of Langley became Duke of York , thereby founding
2640-607: The first ealdormen were referred to as duces (the plural of the original Latin dux ) in the chronicles. The title ealdorman was replaced by the Danish eorl (later earl ) over time. After the Norman conquest , their power and regional jurisdiction was limited to that of the Norman counts . Edward III of England created the first English dukedom by naming his eldest son Edward, the Black Prince , as Duke of Cornwall in 1337. Upon
2706-407: The former Caliphate of Córdoba and its taifa-remnants , transformed the territory of former Suevic and Visigothic realms into Catholic feudal principalities, none of these warlords was exactly styled duke. A few (as Portugal itself ) started as count (even if the title of dux was sometimes added), but soon all politically relevant princes were to use the royal style of king. In Portugal,
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2772-736: The greater Romanization of those provinces. But the titles were basically equivalent. In late Merovingian Gaul, the mayors of the palace of the Arnulfing clan began to use the title dux et princeps Francorum : 'duke and prince of the Franks'. In this title, duke implied supreme military control of the entire nation ( Francorum , the Franks) and it was thus used until the end of the Carolingian dynasty in France in 987. The stem duchies were
2838-511: The highest hereditary title (aside from titles borne by a reigning or formerly reigning dynasty) in Portugal (though now a republic), Spain, and the United Kingdom. In Sweden, members of the royal family are given a personal dukedom at birth. The Pope, as a temporal sovereign, has also, though rarely, granted the title of duke or duchess to persons for services to the Holy See . In some realms
2904-449: The highest-ranking officials in the realm, typically Frankish (whereas the counts were often Gallo-Roman), and formed the class from which the kings' generals were chosen in times of war. The dukes met with the king every May to discuss policy for the upcoming year, the so-called Mayfield . In Burgundy and Provence , the titles of patrician and prefect were commonly employed instead of duke, probably for historical reasons relating to
2970-402: The holder, Henry of Grosmont , Edmund's grandson, was created Duke of Lancaster. After his death a charter of 1362 conferred the dukedom on his son-in-law John of Gaunt , Earl of Lancaster, and the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten forever. In 1399 the Duchy of Lancaster, held by John of Gaunt's son Henry of Bolingbroke , merged with the crown on his appropriation of the throne (after
3036-452: The income of the duchy estates providing the sovereign's Privy Purse . The Channel Islands are two of the three remaining Crown Dependencies , the last vestiges of the lands of the Duchy of Normandy. The Islanders in their loyal toast will say "Le Roi, notre Duc" (The King, Our Duke). Though the title was apparently renounced under the Treaty of Paris in 1259, the Crown still maintains that
3102-474: The infantes or natural sons of the monarch. There are exceptions, such as António José de Ávila , who, although not having any relation to the royal family, was given the title of Duke of Ávila and Bolama in the 19th century. Spanish infantes and infantas are usually given a royal dukedom upon marriage, excepting the heir apparent who is the Prince of Asturias . Those titles are nowadays not hereditary but carry
3168-676: The islands today retain autonomy in government, they owe allegiance to The King in his role as Duke of Normandy." During the Middle Ages , after Roman power in Western Europe collapsed, the title was still employed in the Germanic kingdoms, usually to refer to the rulers of old Roman provinces. The Venetians installed a "Duke of Durazzo" (today Durrës ) during their brief rule over the city and its environs in 1205–1213. In 1332, Robert of Taranto succeeded his father, Philip . Robert's uncle, John , did not wish to do him homage for
3234-483: The monarch has voluntarily paid both income and capital gains tax since 1993. Revenue surplus or income from the Duchy of Lancaster has increased considerably over time. In 1952, the surplus was £100,000 a year. Almost 50 years later in 2000, the revenue surplus had increased to £5.8M. In 2010, the revenue surplus stood at £13.2M, and by 2017, the surplus had grown to £19.2M. In October 2024, an investigation by The Sunday Times and Channel 4's Dispatches reported that
3300-563: The monarch. The Duchy consists of a portfolio of lands, properties, and assets held in trust for the sovereign. The principal purpose of the estate is to provide a source of independent income. The Duchy consists of 18,433 ha (45,550 acres) of land holdings, including rural estates and farmland, urban developments, historic buildings, and commercial properties across England and Wales , particularly in Cheshire , Staffordshire , Derbyshire , Lincolnshire , Yorkshire , Lancashire , and
3366-540: The most powerful landowners and, along with the bishops, elected the king, usually from their own midst. They were the military commanders and in this capacity often acted independently from the king, most notably in the latter period before the Muslim invasions. The army was structured decimally with the highest unit, the thiufa , probably corresponding to about 1,000 people from each civitas (city district). The cities were commanded by counts, who were in turn answerable to
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#17327834416643432-498: The relative status of "duke" and "prince", as titles borne by the nobility rather than by members of reigning dynasties, varied—e.g., in Italy and Germany. A woman who holds in her own right the title to such duchy or dukedom, or is married to a duke, is normally styled duchess. Queen Elizabeth II , however, was known by tradition as Duke of Normandy in the Channel Islands and Duke of Lancaster in Lancashire. A duchy
3498-398: The royal family include Duke of Cornwall , Duke of Lancaster , Duke of Clarence , Duke of York , Duke of Gloucester , Duke of Bedford , Duke of Cumberland , Duke of Cambridge , Duke of Rothesay , Duke of Albany , Duke of Ross , Duke of Edinburgh , Duke of Kent , Duke of Sussex , and Duke of Connaught and Strathearn . Following his abdication in 1936 the former King Edward VIII
3564-493: The royal family profited from the NHS through a 15-year lease signed in 2023 by the duchy, which charged NHS Foundation Trust £829,000 annually for a central London warehouse. This arrangement raised concerns about financial transparency. Critics, including Edward Leigh and Margaret Hodge , called for the royal duchies to pay corporation tax and condemned the monarchy for profiting from public services. The royal income sources included
3630-524: The same purpose in Lolland and Halland . After the accession to the throne of Christian I , a complex system of appanages were created for male-line descendants of the king, being granted non-sovereign ducal titles in both Schleswig and Holstein , e.g. Duke of Gottorp , Duke of Sønderborg, Duke of Augustenborg , Duke of Franzhagen, Duke of Beck, Duke of Glücksburg and Duke of Nordborg. This arrangement occurred in both territories despite Schleswig being
3696-474: The term is not applicable to dukedoms of other nations, even where an institution similar to the peerage (e.g. Grandeeship , Imperial Diet , Hungarian House of Magnates ) existed. During the 19th century, many of the smaller German and Italian states were ruled by dukes or grand dukes. But at present, with the exception of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , there are no dukes ruling as monarchs. Duke remains
3762-415: The throne, respectively. In 1936, leader of the opposition Clement Attlee introduced an amendment to the civil list bill which would have seen the duchies surrendered in exchange for an adjusted annual sum of money tied to the actual cost of royal functions, but the amendment was defeated. In 1971, a private member's bill to nationalise the duchy was defeated, but more than 100 MPs supported it. In 2011,
3828-493: The title (as Herzog ) signified first among the Germanic monarchies . Dukes were the rulers of the provinces and the superiors of the counts in the cities and later, in the feudal monarchies , the highest-ranking peers of the king. A duke may or may not be, ipso facto , a member of the nation's peerage : in the United Kingdom and Spain all dukes are/were also peers of the realm, in France some were and some were not, while
3894-587: The title is retained: "In 1106, William's youngest son Henry I seized the Duchy of Normandy from his brother Robert; since that time, the English sovereign has always held the title Duke of Normandy ", and that "By 1205, England had lost most of its French lands, including Normandy. However, the Channel Islands, part of the lost Duchy, remained a self-governing possession of the English Crown. While
3960-512: The title of Duke of Suárez in favour of former primer minister Adolfo Suárez in 1981. Since the accession of King Felipe VI to the throne in 2014, no new noble title has been created. The Northern European duchies of Halland , Jutland , Lolland , Osilia and Reval existed in the Middle Ages. The longest-surviving duchy was Schleswig , i.e., Sonderjylland (a portion of which later became part of Germany). Its southern neighbor,
4026-401: The title of duke was granted for the first time in 1415 to infante Peter and infante Henry , the second and third sons of king John I , following their participation in the successful Conquest of Ceuta . Pedro became the first Duke of Coimbra and Henry the first Duke of Viseu . From the reign of king Manuel I , the title of Duke of Beja was given to the second son of the monarch. This
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#17327834416644092-622: The wife of a duke. Dukes of Lancaster are called dukes even when they are female, and by tradition the monarch of the UK, whether male or female, is known in the Channel Islands as the Duke of Normandy. Various royal houses traditionally awarded (mainly) dukedoms to the sons and in some cases, the daughters, of their respective sovereigns; others include at least one dukedom in a wider list of similarly granted titles, nominal dukedoms without any actual authority, often even without an estate. Such titles are still conferred on royal princes or princesses in
4158-461: Was changed during the Liberal regime in the 19th century (with Queen Maria II ), when the first infante (second son of the monarch) got the title of Duke of Porto and the second infante (third son) was known as Duke of Beja. There are examples of duke as a subsidiary title, granted to the most powerful noble houses: Usually, the title of duke was granted to relatives of the royal family, such as
4224-454: Was given the first Norwegian title of duke ( hertug ). There is no indication that those two titles meant the same thing, or was mixed. He was first jarl , and then also hertug , but after he became hertug he kept the title jarl . Sweden has a history of making the sons of its kings ruling princes of vast duchies, but this ceased in 1622. Only one non-royal person was ever given a dukedom. Duchy of Lancaster The Duchy of Lancaster
4290-476: Was given the title Duke of Windsor . There are also non-royal dukes in the United Kingdom. In Belgium , the title of Duke of Brabant (historically the most prestigious in the Low Countries , and containing the federal capital Brussels ) is awarded to the heir apparent of the monarch, other dynasts receiving various lower historical titles (much older than Belgium, and in principle never fallen to
4356-690: Was monarch. Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn posited that the Queen should apologise, saying that anyone who keeps money offshore for tax avoidance purposes should "not just apologise for it, [but] recognise what it does to our society." A spokesman for the duchy said that all of their investments are audited and legitimate, and that the Queen voluntarily pays taxes on income she receives from duchy investments. The duchy's investments were revealed to include First Quench Retailing off-licences and rent-to-own retailer BrightHouse . The palace later stated that offshore investments had been exited by 2019. The duchy
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