Kate and Wills are (even more) loaded!
It’s been an eventful week, with us starting of with a male prime minister (Boris Johnson) and female monarch (Queen Elizabeth) and finishing off with a female prime minister (Liz Truss) and male monarch (King Charles III).
Now, following the death of the Queen, Prince William and Kate Middleton’s bank account have also seen a sudden change. They became billionaires overnight.
Prior to Thursday’s news, William received funds from the Crown Estate, Sovereign Grants, and from his inheritance from his late mother Princess Diana and his net worth was estimated to be about $40 million (£34 million).
While millions isn’t too bad, his net worth shot up by $1.3 billion (£1.1bn), taking his total net worth up to $1.34bn. All because the royal couple inherited King Charles’ former titles.
As well as being the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, they are now Prince and Princess of Wales, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall. Impressive, considering majority of us have a grand total of zero titles.
The Duchy of Cornwall (formerly in Prince Charles’ possession) comes with a huge £1.1 billion portfolio of land and various assets across the country.
The estate is around 128,000 acres, spans across 20 counties in England and Wales – oddly enough most of it isn’t actually in Cornwall – and consists of farmland, parts of Dartmoor national park, cricket grounds, and even a prison.
The ownership of the estate paid him £21 million ($24m) in the last fiscal year and the King voluntarily paid the top rate of income tax (45 percent) on the property.
However, as the duchy is not considered a company according to tax laws, the king did not have to pay corporate or capital gains tax. This is a move that has been criticised, of course.
Charles also set up a food company three decades ago, named Duchy Organics, which many argue connects the estate and title with the company.
The brand was acquired by Waitrose and is no longer attached toDuchy, but that hasn’t stopped the backlash. There are hopes that William may do things differently as he now makes all decisions on shaping its future.
This comes after a number of public figures have called for the monarchy to abolished following Queen Elizabeth’s death this week.
Phoebe Bridgers shared a post on social media that mourned “all the stolen, violated and traumatized lives” that were “destroyed” while the Queen was in charge.
Indie rock artist Phoebe Bridgers reshared a post on Instagram on Thursday which suggested the Queen was a “war criminal”.
First shared on the account of RISEindigenous, an Indigenous artist initiative, the post read:
“Today we mourn all the stolen, violated, and traumatized lives who were affected and destroyed during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.
“Today is a brutal reminder that war criminals will be honored while entire populations and societies bear the battle scars of colonial genocidal violence, invasion, religious persecution, and white supremacy.”
Meanwhile, Jedward have called for the monarch to give people some democracy.
They tweeted: “Abolish the monarchy and give the people real democracy!”
Related links:
- Former colonies of the Queen want their $400 million diamond back from the Crown Jewels
- Sky News forced to correct TV report after confusing protest over Chris Kaba killing for Queen mourners
- The Queen has penned a secret note and hidden it in a vault – but it can’t be opened for 63 years
