King’s estate facing questions over £14m in ‘bona vacantia’ not donated to charity

Duchy of Lancaster says money it collects from dead people goes to charity after costs and ‘obligations’, raising questions about sum yet to be donated

A royal insignia shines from the heart of a stained glass window in the Savoy chapel in London. The ornate 150-seat church is tucked incongruously between the theatres of the Strand, the Savoy hotel and the Thames.

It was built on land previously occupied by a palace that was torn down during the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt against the inequities of feudalism. More than 600 years later, a remnant of that feudal system still funds the chapel.