THE death of the Queen and the accession of King Charles III means a lot of changes for the UK.
One which might not be at the forefront of many people's minds is the ownership of a number of beaches in South Wales.
When you visit the seaside, it might not have occurred to you that you could be sunbathing on property owned by royalty.
Around half of the foreshore – the area between the sea and developed land – around Wales, England and Northern Ireland is actually owned by the monarch, and has now passed into the hands of King Charles III.
The Crown Estate leases and licences tidal land and seabed for port and harbours infrastructure, moorings and marinas, and cables, pipelines and outfalls.
It turns out the King owns quite a bit of foreshore around the Welsh coast, including a large chunk of the Gwent coastline.
Using an interactive map of Wales, the parts highlighted in purple are currently under the ownership of the Crown Estate.
As you can see, much of the foreshore near to Newport Wetlands is currently owned by the King – as well as a large stretch heading up the Usk estuary.
But what about further afield – and more specifically, beaches.
Following the coastline westwards and it appears there’s some small beaches near Lavernock and Swanbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan that are also owned by the Crown Estate.
In fact, much of the Vale of Glamorgan’s foreshore is owned by the King.
Perhaps the most well known beach under royal ownership is that of Newton – close to Porthcawl.
Carry up along the coast and there’s an even more famous holiday destination with a beach that's King owned – Tenby.
You can take a look at the interactive map here: https://crownestate.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Viewer/index.html?appid=0aac22685d2f4d78a2a3b0a5aa1660db.
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