Where does the UK royal family get all its money? Queen Elizabeth made millions from property assets, while Prince William inherits the US$1.2 billion Duchy of Cornwall from dad King Charles

Sep 14 , 2022

Where do the British royals get all their money from and how much are they worth? Photo: EPA-EFE

“Millionaires, not billionaires” – the Queen’s net worth was placed at around US$450 million before her death, thanks to the private Privy Purse and tax-funded Sovereign Grant

Earning your own cash is actually frowned upon for royals – but since stepping back Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have made millions from Netflix and Spotify deals

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth wasn’t as rich as you might think.

Elizabeth II had a net worth of US$442.92 million (£340 million), The Sunday Times estimated in 2016. That’s vastly more than any other members of the royal family – including the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who have a shared fortune of US$30 million, Insider previously reported.

Following the queen’s death, Prince Charles became King Charles III and replaced his mother as the reigning monarch and owner of the Crown Estate.

Here’s how the British royal family makes their fortune.

The royal family gets a chunk of cash from taxpayers

The royal family appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant outside Buckingham Palace in London on June 5. Photo: AP

Every year the royal family gets a state handout called the Sovereign Grant. It comes from the treasury and is funded by taxpayers.

The basic agreement is that the royal family gets the grant in exchange for surrendering all profits from the Crown Estate – the family’s massive portfolio of properties – to the government. Every year, the reigning monarch is given an amount of money equivalent to 25 per cent of the Crown Estate’s profits.

The grant totalled US$107.1 million (£82.2 million) in 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Sovereign Grant pays for property upkeep and utilities, the family’s travel, and royal employee payroll. But The Telegraph notes that the grant doesn’t cover costs of security and royal ceremonies – that money comes from a few other places.

The reigning monarch’s private income is called the Privy Purse

Queen Elizabeth had access to a royal fund known as the Privy Purse. Photo: AFP

That money comes from the Duchy of Lancaster – a portfolio of land and other assets that’s been in the royal family for hundreds of years. It contains US$715 million (£548.6 million) worth of net assets (including 18,433 hectares of land) and is made up of residential, commercial and agricultural properties, the Wall Street Journal UK reported.

It brought in US$27 million (£20.7 million) in 2019, according to The Journal. According to the royal family website, this sum helps with costs not covered by the Sovereign Grant – namely, it’s used to pay “expenses incurred by other members of the royal family”.