A Saudi Arabian billionaire is among those handed hundreds of thousands of pounds every year in farm subsidies at the expense of taxpayers.
Khalid Abdullah al Saud, who owns the champion racehorse Frankel, receives over £400,000 a year through Juddmonte Limited Farms, and is among the top 100 recipients of European Union farming subsidies in Britain.
Other major beneficiaries include the Queen, the Duke of Westminster, the National Trust and the RSPB.
The largest recipient on the list is Frank Smart, whose Aberdeenshire farm saw him receive a total payment of £2,963,732.77.
“I don't want to discuss any part of my business with the media, thank you," he has said.
Following the vote to leave the EU, the government has pledged to cover the billions required to maintain the system after Brexit.
Greenpeace branded the payments to billionaires “an outrage”.
The organisation’s chief scientist said: “The subsidy system is utterly broken. We need public money spent on farming to be offering demonstrable public benefits.”
But a spokesman for Buckingham Palace said: “Subsidies are open to all farmers, and are received on the Queen's private estate. We would not comment beyond the detail that is already in the public domain.”
The identities of many of the largest recipients of EU farm subsidies are hidden through the use of offshore trusts.
Subsidies for farming have been in place since the end of the Second World War, but eventually led to the overproduction of food.
The existing system is now based on the amount of land farmers own.
According to the BBC, a spokesman for Prince Al Saud declined to comment. The Independent has also reached out to the Prince for a statement.
