Editing Prince of Waterloo (section)

==Estate of the prince==
In addition to this title, the Dutch king also granted Wellington {{convert|1050|ha}} of land and a yearly endowment of 20,000 guilders.  To this day the Dukes of Wellington retain the title Prince of Waterloo,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20101027194411/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,846328,00.html Cash Talk – TIME<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and enjoy an annual income of around £100,000 from the longstanding tenants occupying the land.

Owing to the establishment of the separate [[Kingdom of Belgium]] in 1831, the title (being Dutch) and the land (located in Belgium) became separated.{{vague|date=July 2019}} After the Belgian independence the endowment was by the [[Treaty of London (1839)|Treaty of London]] included in the public debt to be assumed by the new Kingdom of Belgium.

The land held by the Prince of Waterloo came under pressure from retired [[Belgium|Belgian]] senator Jean-Emile Humblet in 2001.<ref>[http://www.themediadrome.com/content/news/june_2001/waterloo_rents.htm The Mediadrome – News – Waterloo Rents<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926231021/http://www.themediadrome.com/content/news/june_2001/waterloo_rents.htm |date=2007-09-26 }}</ref>  In 1817, the government in what is now [[Belgium]] struck a deal to pay the duke £1,600 a year in return for the proceeds of sales of timber which the duke wanted to clear from the forested land. Until 1988, successive dukes enjoyed this annual payment, but the then Prince of Waterloo, [[Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington]], agreed to forgo the payment in exchange for outright ownership of {{convert|24|ha|acre|abbr=on|sigfig=1}} of the {{convert|1050|ha|abbr=on}} to which he has rights. But some Belgian taxpayers, led by Humblet, claimed the deal did not reflect the value of the land and drew attention to the wider issues surrounding the original agreement, contending that Belgium was effectively coerced into accepting the terms of the original agreement, because it could not afford to offend [[United Kingdom|Britain]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/631041.stm Battle lines drawn at Waterloo]</ref><ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/609869.stm Battle over legacy of Waterloo]</ref>

In 2009 a Member of Parliament from [[Vlaams Belang]] questioned the Minister of Finance, [[Didier Reynders]] about the grant. Reynders replied that this grant is part of the international obligations of Belgium under the Treaty of London and that he had no intention of reneging on the obligation, as all the Dukes have faithfully fulfilled their obligations.<ref>[http://www.dekamer.be/doc/qrva/pdf/52/52k0066.pdf Bulletin of the Chamber of Representatives 22 June 2009, p97 (in Dutch and French)]</ref>