The Queen’s stamp collection alone is worth £100 million.
It’s no surprise to anyone that Queen Elizabeth passed away very rich, she’s the Queen after all. But it may surprise you how loaded she was.
The monarch who passed away last Thursday, owns multiple palaces, many diamond tiaras, a solid gold piano, all of Hyde Park, every living single swan in the country and a lot more.
In regards to what she owns in the bank? Well, a bunch of stuff “owned” by the Queen actually just belongs to the “Royal Firm.”
According to Forbes, the crown, through the the Firm (which actually goes by “Monarchy PLC”), holds nearly $28 billion in assets.
The Crown Estate holds $19.5 billion, Buckingham Palace is worth an estimated $4.9 billion, the Duchy of Cornwall holds $1.3 billion, the Duchy of Lancaster holds $748 million, Kensington Palace has an estimated worth of $630 million, and the Crown Estate Scotland holds $592 million.
That’s a lot of cash.
According to Forbes, the Crown Estate made £475 million in profits in 2020, and the royal family got 25 percent of that (also known as the Sovereign Grant), while the remaining 75 percent went to the British Treasury.
In 2022, that grant reached £86.3 million.
This comes as Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton – now the Prince and Princess of Wales – made a lot of money in one single day last week after the Queen’s death.
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.
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
