Shell turns its back on Royal Dutch heritage after climate ruling and dividend tax

Shell turns its back on Royal Dutch heritage after climate ruling and dividend tax

For more than 130 years, Royal Dutch Shell has boasted of its historic links with the royal family of the Netherlands.

The energy behemoth can trace its heritage back to a charter granted by King William III for oil exploration in Indonesia in 1890, making it one of the world's oldest energy companies and a trailblazer of modern capitalism.

But on the orders of Ben van Beurden, Shell's chief executive, and its chairman Sir Andrew Mackenzie, those links are about to be dramatically cut.