The new King of England, Charles III, inherited the throne after the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and also his private fortune, a huge inheritance that he will receive without paying inheritance tax.
How much is the Queen’s fortune?
Although British monarchs are not obliged to disclose their private finances, according to the Sunday Times newspaper, Elizabeth II’s personal fortune is known to be £370 million in 2022, an increase of £5 million from the previous year.
Buckingham Palace, about 30 kilometers west of the capital, is the Royal London residence and Windsor Castle is state property.
But Balmoral Castle, the Royal family’s summer vacation spot, and Sandringham Palace, where the Royal family traditionally celebrates the end of the year, belonged to the Queen and will be inherited by Charles.
The Queen also owned a large stock portfolio and a collection of royal stamps worth an estimated £100 million, according to the authors of The Times magazine’s 2021 Rich List.
The Queen’s wealth will be added to Charles’ personal fortune, estimated by CelebrityNetWorth at $100 million (£87 million).
The famous Crown Jewels, worth nearly £3 billion, symbolically belonged to the Queen and were automatically transferred to her successor.
Elizabeth’s husband Prince Philip also left a more modest estate of £30 million when he died in April 2021. In particular, he had a collection of paintings and 3,000 works of art, many of which were bequeathed to friends and family.
Duchy of Lancaster
When King Charles III ascends to the throne, he will inherit the Duchy of Lancaster, which has belonged to the Royal family since the Middle Ages and provided £24 million of special income earmarked for the British monarch during the tax year ending in March.
“Lancaster’s money belongs to the monarch, the King or Queen, because of their position,” said David McClure, author of a book on royal finance.
Charles, on the other hand, lost the Duchy of Cornwall, which goes to the King’s eldest son and earns about £ 21 million a year.
“This will go directly to Prince William,” McClure said.
Charles will also benefit from an annual allocation from the Public Treasury called the ‘Sovereign Grant’, set at 15 percent of the income from royal assets.
These revenues, which include real estate as well as a large wind farm, have been transferred to the Public Treasury since a 1760 law.
Including the large funds allocated to renovate Buckingham Palace for a ten-year period (£34.5 million for 2021-2022), this allocation has reached £86.3 million for 2021-2022.
The Sovereign Grant goes towards funding official activities related to the representation of the monarch or members of his or her family, in particular staff salaries, maintenance and cleaning of the palaces, official trips, as well as expenses related to official excursions.
Royal Estate
Most of the Queen’s wealth will be transferred to Charles without inheritance tax, thanks to an exemption dating back to 1993.
According to the Ministry of Finance, Charles will have both official and private use of private assets such as Sandringham and Balmoral.
“However, this advantage is limited to transfers between the monarch and her successor,” the ministry said, adding that the monarchy should have a degree of financial independence from the government.
“The Queen is likely to leave a will and small sums will go to close family members, but the bulk of the wealth will go to Charles,” said David McClure.
Source: London/Sharq al-Awsat
