I would like to know whether the Queen and the Prince of Wales pay the full legally required income tax, corporation tax and capital gains tax on their revenue from the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall. Will they be required to pay the new 50% rate of income tax with effect from April 2010? And will their tax-free personal allowance be withdrawn as is the case for all other people with incomes over £100,000?

There must be transparency in royal tax affairs, and the British people must have confidence that the Head of State and the future Head of State are paying their full taxes like everybody else. 

It is scarcely believable at a time of economic crisis and national belt-tightening that the Queen is asking the government for a £7 million increase in the Civil List. It sounds as though the Palace advisers and the Queen -  the richest woman in the world - are completely divorced from reality. 

Reform of the monarchy must lead to a big reduction in royal costs and  the introduction of an independently determined salary for the Queen to replace the antiquated ragbag of Civil List, Duchy revenues, Grants-In-Aid etc.

No other royal family members should get hand-outs from the state. The Queen’s relatives should earn their own living  just as the relatives of Heads of State in other countries are obliged to do.