Financing
Costs of the Monarchy to public funds
According to financial reports presented to the parliament, the Royal family costs nearly 41 million pounds each year in public funds.
There are six sources of funding for the Queen’s royal household. Four of them are state founding: the Sovereign Grant, previously called the Civil List, the Parliamentary annuities, the Grants-in-Aid and the Government Departments. The two others are private funding: the Privy Purse and the Queen’s personal wealth and income.
According to financial reports presented to the parliament, the Royal family costs nearly 41 million pounds each year in public funds.
There are six sources of funding for the Queen’s royal household. Four of them are state founding: the Sovereign Grant, previously called the Civil List, the Parliamentary annuities, the Grants-in-Aid and the Government Departments. The two others are private funding: the Privy Purse and the Queen’s personal wealth and income.
These figures represent 2011 supports for the royal family. Those official expenditures are met from public funds in exchange for revenue from the crown estate. There are also some unnamed costs such as the lost revenue from the Duchy of Lancaster which is evaluated to about £13.2 million, the lost revenue from Duchy of Cornwall evaluated to £24.5 million, the cost to local Council for visits by the Queen, and the security of the Royal Family which is evaluated at £100 million, but it is, for the great majority of British people a largely justified expense.
So the Royal Family receives lots of public funding, but only for official expenditure.
So the Royal Family receives lots of public funding, but only for official expenditure.
On April 1st, 2012 the arrangements for the funding of The Queen’s Official Duties changed. The new system of funding, referred to as the "Sovereign Grant", replaces the Civil List and the three Grants-in-Aid (for Royal Travel, Communications and Information, and the Maintenance of the Royal Palaces) with a single consolidated annual grant.
The Sovereign Grant is designed to be a more permanent arrangement than the old Civil List system, which was reign-specific and fixed by the parliament on a period of 10 years. Funding for the Sovereign Grant comes from a percentage (initially set at 15%) of the profits of the Crown Estate revenue 2 years earlier. The grant will be reviewed every five years by the Royal Trustees (the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Keeper of the Privy Purse), and annual financial accounts will continue to be prepared and published by the Keeper of the Privy Purse. Tanks to this new system the Queen will get a 5 million pay rise in 2013/14. Indeed, in 2011/12 the estate made profits of £240.2 million, so the Queen will get £36.1 million whereas she only got £31 million the previous year. According to Buckingham Palace, the majority of the grant will be spent on the backlog of property repair works in royal palaces. But Graham Smith, the executive chief of anti-monarchy campaign group Republic described the extra funding as “absurd” and “immoral”. He also said that: “While every other public body is forced to rein in its spending, the royal household is given yet more taxpayers’ cash”. A spokeswoman of Buckingham Palace said about it: "During the past five years the Royal Household has reduced its expenditure in line with reductions in funding, and key building and conservation works have necessarily been postponed as a result, thereby increasing the maintenance backlog".
The new system providing for the Royal Household will be subject to the same audit scrutiny as other government expenditure, via the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee.
So the British Monarchy is an expensive institution with a specific funding system which has been recently changed, increasing the revenue of the Royal Family.
So the British Monarchy is an expensive institution with a specific funding system which has been recently changed, increasing the revenue of the Royal Family.
Private Funding
The Queen also receives the Privy Purse that is the Queen’s private income and is distinct from the civil list. The purse is finance from the net income (£112 million in 2008) from the Duchy of Lancaster – an estate comprising more than 19,000 hectares of land. This income is used by the Queen for official and private expenses. There is also The Queen’s personal wealth and incomes, it is the wealth that the Monarchy has accumulated over centuries. It has never been publicly disclosed. The majority of her wealth is not amassed in liquid assets. Far from being Britain's wealthiest person, the Queen is ranked 105th on The Sunday Times 2001 Rich List. What's more the Queen is limited on cash spending for personal needs.
The Queen also receives the Privy Purse that is the Queen’s private income and is distinct from the civil list. The purse is finance from the net income (£112 million in 2008) from the Duchy of Lancaster – an estate comprising more than 19,000 hectares of land. This income is used by the Queen for official and private expenses. There is also The Queen’s personal wealth and incomes, it is the wealth that the Monarchy has accumulated over centuries. It has never been publicly disclosed. The majority of her wealth is not amassed in liquid assets. Far from being Britain's wealthiest person, the Queen is ranked 105th on The Sunday Times 2001 Rich List. What's more the Queen is limited on cash spending for personal needs.
The Queen’s wealth and incomes are derived from her personal investment portfolio and private properties: the Balmoral castle and the Sandrigham estates. The value of the royal estates and the Queen’s income from both properties are unknown. In 2001, Forbes magazine estimated that the Queen is worth about $420 million. Estimates of the Queen’s wealth often mistakenly include items which are held by her as Sovereign on behalf of the nation and are not her private property. These include Royal Palaces, the majority of art treasures from the Royal Collection and the Crown Jewels. The Queen cannot sell these – they must pass to her successor as Sovereign.
Whoever the reigning King or Queen of England is, he is the benefactor of "The Crown Estate". The Crown Estate is a $13 billion real estate portfolio that has been passed down by generations of British royals dating as far back as the XIth century. The portfolio includes nearly $10 billion worth of urban property and $3 billion worth of rural land. The Crown Estate owns golf clubs, parks, apartment buildings, retail space, mineral rights and much more. It even technically owns the marine life reaching 12 nautical miles off the coast of England. In 2012, profits from The Crown Estate were nearly $400 million!
Whoever the reigning King or Queen of England is, he is the benefactor of "The Crown Estate". The Crown Estate is a $13 billion real estate portfolio that has been passed down by generations of British royals dating as far back as the XIth century. The portfolio includes nearly $10 billion worth of urban property and $3 billion worth of rural land. The Crown Estate owns golf clubs, parks, apartment buildings, retail space, mineral rights and much more. It even technically owns the marine life reaching 12 nautical miles off the coast of England. In 2012, profits from The Crown Estate were nearly $400 million!
As a helicopter search and rescue pilot for the Royal Air Force Prince William earned $70,000 a year and his brother Prince Harry currently makes $60,000 as a Captain in the British Army. William and Harry also inherited a $10 million trust fund established by their late mother, Princess Diana. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is entitled to an annual salary of $580,000 for his duties as the Queen's spouse. Additional annuities in the $200-$400,000 range exist for The Duke of York, The Earl of Wessex, The Duke of Gloucester and various other Princesses and Duchesses. Every year, Queen Elizabeth reimburses the state for these annuities from her own bank accounts.
So the Royal Family is a very wealthy family, and has private sources of funding, which are use for private expenses.
So the Royal Family is a very wealthy family, and has private sources of funding, which are use for private expenses.
Expenditures
In spite of a busy year of travelling for the Jubilee, the cost of royal travel increased from £500,000 to £4.5million. Prince William and Kate racked up the biggest bill with a £370,000 tour of the South Pacific. Prince Andrew spent £86,000 on a charter flight to the funeral of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
Princess Anne spent £42,000 flying first class on a scheduled service to Johannesburg with husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, her private secretary and a lady-in-waiting, with a dresser and an internet manager behind in business class. In contrast, Princess Michael of Kent is said to have flown abroad by Easy Jet.
The Royal family spends £800,000 each year for garden parties, £500,000 for catering food and kitchens and £400,000 for wine and spirits.
The recent wedding of Kate and William in 2011 has been one of the most expensive wedding ever. Indeed it costs £19.6 million for the security, £6,500 for the ring, £350,000 for the reception, £26,500 for Kate's dress, £50,000 for cakes, £500,000 for the flowers and £40,000 for the cleaning. So the wedding costs about £21 million. Usually, royal weddings are met from public funds, but for this wedding, the Queen and the prince Charles paid a good portion of the tab, excepted for the security which was ensured by London. But the recent festivities have a financial burden which the department of Culture, media and sport evaluate at a loss of around £1.2 billion to the UK economy, because of the extra bank holiday.
In spite of a busy year of travelling for the Jubilee, the cost of royal travel increased from £500,000 to £4.5million. Prince William and Kate racked up the biggest bill with a £370,000 tour of the South Pacific. Prince Andrew spent £86,000 on a charter flight to the funeral of the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
Princess Anne spent £42,000 flying first class on a scheduled service to Johannesburg with husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, her private secretary and a lady-in-waiting, with a dresser and an internet manager behind in business class. In contrast, Princess Michael of Kent is said to have flown abroad by Easy Jet.
The Royal family spends £800,000 each year for garden parties, £500,000 for catering food and kitchens and £400,000 for wine and spirits.
The recent wedding of Kate and William in 2011 has been one of the most expensive wedding ever. Indeed it costs £19.6 million for the security, £6,500 for the ring, £350,000 for the reception, £26,500 for Kate's dress, £50,000 for cakes, £500,000 for the flowers and £40,000 for the cleaning. So the wedding costs about £21 million. Usually, royal weddings are met from public funds, but for this wedding, the Queen and the prince Charles paid a good portion of the tab, excepted for the security which was ensured by London. But the recent festivities have a financial burden which the department of Culture, media and sport evaluate at a loss of around £1.2 billion to the UK economy, because of the extra bank holiday.
So the royal family has an expensive style of living, especially when there are important ceremonies as in 2011.