Profile: Queen Elizabeth's finances
The Queen’s frugal habits and dedication to the job have endeared her to (most of) her subjects. But where does her money come from – and how much does she have?
To Boris Johnson, she is “Elizabeth the Great” – “no other monarch has served us so well”, he observed this week. But ahead of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, anti-monarchy campaigners have also been making their presence felt. The campaigning group Republic has plastered billboards with posters urging Britons to “Make Elizabeth the Last”. It’s time for “an honest grown-up debate about the monarchy”, says the group. Not least on the question of money
An expensive luxury?
It’s nothing, of course, that the Queen hasn’t heard many times over during her 70-year reign – she may even have noticed a cyclical pattern to the criticisms, albeit differently nuanced to suit the times. In today’s straitened environment, it comes as no surprise that “affordability” is a key theme, notes The Independent. Asked by Ipsos whether “the royal family is an expensive luxury the country cannot afford”, it seems “the nation is split” – 38% of those polled agreed, 36% disagreed, and the rest didn’t know.
Younger people were more likely to take a negative view. Public perceptions of the monarch’s wealth tell their own story about the changes wrought as she has progressed through what Vogue calls “a jewel box of jubilees”. Perhaps the first observation her older subjects might make is that the Queen “seems” poorer in the wealth stakes – at least compared with the vast self-made fortunes that have sprung up in the past 30 years. When The Sunday Times published its first Rich List in 1989, the Queen was at the top, with a fortune put at £5.2bn, which also made her one of the richest people in the world.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
This year she romped home among the also-rans, with £370m. As the list’s compiler Robert Watts noted in 2018, this partly reflects how “new money” has come to eclipse inherited, land-based “old money” fortunes. But the real reason is that the somewhat hazy divide between the Queen’s personal wealth, and that of the monarchy itself, has become ever more crystalised. The upshot is that she now appears on the list in a strictly private capacity. Had the old rules still applied, she would arguably still be heading it. The separation of the monarch’s wealth began when George III ran into a spot of pecuniary difficulty in 1760. The price Parliament extracted for the government paying off his debts was surrendering his income from the Crown Estate in return for an annual stipend (originally known as the Civil List and replaced in 2011 by the Sovereign Grant) to pay for the business of monarchy. Normally, the Queen receives 15% of Crown Estate profits from the previous two years, with the rest going to government, says the BBC. But in 2017, it was agreed she would receive 25% for the next 10 years to help pay for a £369m refurbishment of Buckingham Palace. The Sovereign Grant cost the taxpayer £87.5m during 2020-2021 – an increase of £18m on the previous financial year.
The family firm
As well as deriving private income through personally-owned properties such as the Sandringham and Balmoral estates, and a substantial investment portfolio, the Queen also receives private income from the “Privy Purse”, derived from the Duchy of Lancaster – a distinct source of income from that of “The Firm”, says Forbes. The Prince of Wales, “Charles, Inc”, enjoys a similar arrangement with the Duchy of Cornwall. “Who gets to be part of the Firm and reap the benefits has become a point of great contention over the years.” After Harry and Meghan’s departure from official duties, and the ousting of Prince Andrew following the Epstein affair, “the number of full-time senior royals has been winnowed down to eight”. It promises to continue to be a contentious issue, as we explore below.
Sign up to Money Morning
Our team, led by award winning editors, is dedicated to delivering you the top news, analysis, and guides to help you manage your money, grow your investments and build wealth.
Jane writes profiles for MoneyWeek and is city editor of The Week. A former British Society of Magazine Editors editor of the year, she cut her teeth in journalism editing The Daily Telegraph’s Letters page and writing gossip for the London Evening Standard – while contributing to a kaleidoscopic range of business magazines including Personnel Today, Edge, Microscope, Computing, PC Business World, and Business & Finance.
She has edited corporate publications for accountants BDO, business psychologists YSC Consulting, and the law firm Stephenson Harwood – also enjoying a stint as a researcher for the due diligence department of a global risk advisory firm.
Her sole book to date, Stay or Go? (2016), rehearsed the arguments on both sides of the EU referendum.
She lives in north London, has a degree in modern history from Trinity College, Oxford, and is currently learning to play the drums.
-
Four AI ETFs to buy
Is now a good time to buy AI ETFs? We examine four AI ETFs that investors might want to add to their portfolio
By Dan McEvoy Published
-
Chase boosts easy-access interest rate - savers could earn 4.75%
Chase is offering a boosted interest rate which is fixed for six months, on top of the standard variable rate
By Jessica Sheldon Published
-
Business rates relief to be slashed – how to cut costs
Labour has promised to reform business rates, the corporate equivalent of council tax
By David Prosser Published
-
Rouble hits two-year low against the dollar – what does it mean for Russia's economy?
New US sanctions have plunged the rouble to its lowest level since 2022. Why are investors spooked and how will this affect Putin's economy?
By Alex Rankine Published
-
Has Javier Milei succeeded in transforming Argentina's economy?
Javier Milei won an election last year on an “anarcho-capitalist” platform, promising to take a chainsaw to the overbearing and bloated state. How’s it going?
By Simon Wilson Published
-
Brazil booms – but why do investors remain wary?
Brazil is booming, but you wouldn’t think so from looking at the stock market. What's behind the market paranoia?
By Alex Rankine Published
-
Is Donald Trump's re-election a wake-up call for Europe?
Donald Trump will turbocharge the US economy – and expose Europe's weakness
By Matthew Lynn Published
-
Invest in Hilton Foods: a tasty UK food supplier
Hilton Foods is a keenly priced opportunity in an unglamorous sector
By Dr Matthew Partridge Published
-
Do we need central banks, or is it time to privatise money?
Analysis Free banking is one alternative to central banks, but would switching to a radical new system be worth the risk?
By Stuart Watkins Published
-
Is HS2 back on the government's agenda?
The government is rethinking what to do about HS2 – Britain’s farcical train project.
By Emily Hohler Published