It has been revealed that the Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, has made a series of private property investments, totalling a staggering £102 million.

The investigation carried out by The Independent, revealed that the Duchy, which is one of Britain’s largest private estates and owns more than 50,000 hectares of land, conducted property transactions worth at least £102 million between 2009 and last December.

The most significant purchase from the future King was a £38 million investment from an Anglo-Indian property fund, on an industrial depot in Milton Keynes - which has been leased out to supermarket Giant Waitrose for the purposes of a distribution hub.

The purchase of the 396,000 sq ft property is not the first connection between Charles and the supermarket. A previous deal between the Duchy and Waitrose in 2009 saw it take over Duchy Originals organic food brand, which now generates more than £1 million a year for the prince’s charities.

The Duchy’s holdings of land and property form assets worth £693 million, and stretch across 23 counties including most of the Scilly Isles, Dartmoor Prison, the Oval cricket ground in central London, a Holiday Inn in Reading and the Prince’s private homes such as Highgrove.

The Duchy is exempt from capital gains and corporation tax, under an arrangement which is now being scrutinised by MPs – though, Charles voluntarily pays income tax.

The rules govern that any sale or purchase by the Prince worth more than £500,000 must be approved by the Treasury; however until recently purchases made under any agreement with the Duchy did not have to be disclosed as public information.

The information would have remained undisclosed, but for a recent judicial ruling that declared the Duchy to be a “public body”, thus making him potentially liable to the freedom of information rules.

But Clarence House has repeatedly refused to disclose any details of acquisitions made under the Prince’s fund, due to what the Prince’s officials said was the Duchy’s “private” status.

Charles voluntarily pays income tax on the income he receives from the Duchy (last year he paid £4.5 million to the tax man from incoming funds of £18.3 million). He uses the money to fund himself and the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, a sizeable staff and his charitable activities.