Each year, a slew of financial documents give the public a glimpse into royal spending.
public land, he argued. Her Majesty's Treasury, he said,"totally accepts that the Crown Estate is public property."
Each monarch technically surrenders the estate again at the start of their reign, but, as McClure argued,"The sovereign isn't doing us a favor by handing this over." He continued:"If you're going to reverse that, you'd have to say 'the Queen should be paying for the running of the country."The Queen also makes money from her own estate: the Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two remaining royal estates.
The duchy's official accounts, however, aren't particularly revealing when it comes to the details. What is known is that the estate itself is"booming," according to McClure—which raises questions in itself. When you take their duchy incomes into account, the Queen and Prince Charles aren't actually as rich as you might expect."Although they are wealthy, they aren't in the mega-wealthy stage. They're not in the stage of some of the really grand aristocratic families," McClure said."They may be worth hundreds of millions of pounds but they're not worth billions."
Many royal family members are also thought to benefit from inheritance trusts. Prince William and Prince Harry, for example, both earned a share of their late mother's £17 million estate , aspreviously noted. It's thought the pair also benefited from a family trust set up by the Queen Mother, McClure said.
If the £82 million Sovereign Grant is the only publicly-funded figure you look at, it may seem a fair price to pay. But the family also incur enormous hidden costs to the British public—most notably for security, McClure explained. The Metropolitan Police provide dedicated security staff for high-profile members of the family. The costs are paid by the taxpayer, but they're not covered by the Sovereign Grant.
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