It was well known that Queen Elizabeth II was wealthy before she passed away this afternoon. Like, literally owns every single swan in the United Kingdom, as well as numerous palaces, sparkling diamond tiaras, a solid gold piano, Hyde Park in its entirety (lol), and a casual abbey. You might wonder, however, how much money she actually has stashed away in the bank. The time has come to break it all down because a lot of the things that are claimed to be “owned” by the Queen actually just belong to the “Royal Firm.”
The “ROYAL FIRM” IS A $28 BILLION EMPIRE, to start.
According to Forbes, the crown controls close to $28 billion in assets through the Firm, which is actually known as “Monarchy PLC.” A quick count of its various holdings shows that the Crown Estate owns $19.5 billion, Buckingham Palace is estimated to be worth $4.9 billion, the Duchy of Cornwall owns $1.3 billion, the Duchy of Lancaster owns $748 million, Kensington Palace is valued at $630 million, and the Crown Estate Scotland owns $592 million.
However, not all of this cash is owned by the British royal family! The British Treasury is the owner of some of it. Let’s use the Crown Estate as an illustration.
Although it is technically the reigning monarch’s (in this case, Queen Elizabeth II’s) property for the duration of their reign, neither they nor the government are the legal owners of the Crown Estate. It is managed by an external board instead. According to Forbes, the Crown Estate made £475 million in profits in 2020, of which the royal family received 25% (known as the Sovereign Grant) and the British Treasury received the remaining 75%. That grant sum alone for that year was an absolutely staggering £86.3 million!
So, yes, the Queen *did* make money from the royal institution as a whole, but since she also had her own unique set of assets, it’s really kind of irrelevant.
THE QUEEN HAD PERSONAL ASSETS WORTH $500 MILLION.
Said assets include, but are not limited to, real estate, which includes Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle, personal investments that are “mostly in British blue-chip shares,” and a truly enormous art collection and jewelry collection.
She also received the entirety of her mother’s estate.
A fortune worth an estimated £70 million, including numerous important works of art, was left to the Queen by the Queen Mother. Although Her Majesty decided the most significant items her mother left behind would be moved to the Royal Collection, where they would be “held in trust for the nation,” the BBC reports.
In addition, Prince Philip, the late husband of the Queen, is said to have left an estate worth about £10 million that included 3,000 books and a collection of Edward Seago paintings.
THE QUEEN HAD A RIDICULOUSLY PRICEY STAMP COLLECTION.
The Royal Philatelic Collection, which consists of UK and Commonwealth stamps and is valued at £100 million, belonged to the Queen, the Sunday Times reported.
Some claim that she was attempting to conceal her wealth.
According to a shocking report published by The Guardian in February 2021, Queen Elizabeth II “successfully lobbied the government to change a draught law in order to conceal her ’embarrassing’ private wealth from the public” in the 1970s. This “placed a veil of secrecy over the Queen’s private shareholdings and investments until at least 2011.”
However, a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace denied this report, according to The Sun, saying that “any assertion that the sovereign has blocked legislation is simply incorrect.”
Hmmm. Curious! In any case, the Queen was incredibly wealthy. Bernie Sanders, get in here!
