Where does the British royal family get its income?

Question

I know that their income is what's left after they pay Parliament, but where does the money come from to begin with? I've heard about the Crown Estate being a source of income. What is this?

thanks

Answer 1

theyre good for tourism

Answer 2

From the taxes that they people over there pay.

Answer 3

They get $100+ million (in pounds) every year from the gov't. Everything is provided for them. They also get money for public appearances.

Answer 4

The overtaxation of the peasants (commoners). The Royals are nothing more than parasites on the rump of the British people!

Answer 5

Go to http://www.royal.gov/uk/output/Page4971....

Here's a sample:

"The Civil List is the sum provided by Parliament to meet the official expenses of The Queen's Household so that Her Majesty can fulfil her role as Head of State and Head of the Commonwealth.

It is not in any sense 'pay' for The Queen, but funding for her official work.

The Civil List dates back to the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, but the current system was created on the accession of George III in 1760.

In that year it was decided that the whole cost of civil government should be provided by Parliament in return for the surrender of the hereditary revenues (mainly the net surplus of the Crown Estate) by the Sovereign.

In the financial year 2005-06 the revenue surplus from the Crown Estate paid to the Treasury amounted to £190.8 million.

As a result of Royal Household efficiency savings and lower than expected inflation during the period up to December 2000, a reserve of £35.3 million was carried forward. The annual amount of the Civil List for the next 10 years for the period up to December 2010 remained fixed at £7.9 million.

In 2005, Civil List expenditure amounted to £11.2m. Since the transfer of additional expenditure to the Civil List with effect from 1 April 2001, Civil List expenditure exceeds the annual £7.9 million payment, and amounts are therefore now withdrawn from the reserve each year, rather than being paid into it.

The budget for each year's projected net Civil List spending is reviewed by the Treasury, which audits the accounts and verifies that the Household's financial management is in line with best practice.

About 70 per cent of Civil List expenditure goes to pay the salaries of staff working directly for The Queen.



In 2005 the Civil List amounted to £11.2m.

Only The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh receive funding from the Civil List. The Queen reimburses the annual parliamentary allowances received by other members of the Royal Family.

Their duties include dealing with State papers, organising public engagements and arranging meetings and receptions undertaken by The Queen.

The Civil List also meets the costs of functions such as Royal garden parties and receptions and official entertainment during State Visits. Her Majesty entertains over 48,000 people each year.

Details of expenditure are published in an Annual Summary and in the Annual Report. Civil List figures (unlike financial data for the Grants-in-Aid) cover a calendar year rather than a financial year.

Download the Civil List report for 2005 (1.6MB)

PROPERTY SERVICES GRANT-IN-AID

A separate grant is voted by Parliament each year to cover the cost of the upkeep of the Royal residences for official and public use.

The Occupied Royal Palaces in England are held by The Queen as Sovereign, and they are used to fulfil the role and functions of Head of State.

Approximately 1,000 people work at the Occupied Royal Palaces. The Queen invites approximately 70,000 guests annually to the Palaces and there are approximately 1.5 million paying visitors.

The Occupied Royal Palaces in England are Buckingham Palace, St. James's Palace and Clarence House, Marlborough House Mews, the residential and office areas of Kensington Palace, Windsor Castle and buildings in the Home and Great Parks at Windsor, and Hampton Court Mews and Paddocks.

In addition, there are The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace, some 267 properties available for residential use on a rental basis, mainly by staff and pensioners, and 14 properties used as communal residential accommodation for staff.

Parliament, through the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, provides a Property Maintenance Grant-in-aid annually to the Royal Household.

The money is used to meet the cost of maintenance, and of certain utilities and related services. These expenses are met by the Government in return for the surrender by the Sovereign of the hereditary revenues (the net surplus from the Crown Estate).

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has overall responsibility for the maintenance of, and provision of services to, the English Occupied Royal Palaces, but since 1991 the Property Section of the Royal Household has had day-to-day management and operating responsibility.

The Household's aims are to conserve the architectural and historical integrity of the buildings, while at the same time ensuring that the Palaces can be used effectively and efficiently as living and working buildings, while achieving best value for money.



The Property Grant-in-Aid meets the costs of property maintenance, utilities, telephones and related services of the Occupied Royal Palaces. Its core funding will remain frozen at £15 million until 2008-09.

Savings in energy costs have been possible in recent years through the use of energy-saving devices such as a Combined Heat and Power Unit at Buckingham Palace.

The Royal Household annually submits a rolling five-year plan to the Department for its approval, as well as detailed quarterly reports and a detailed budget at the start of each financial year.

In addition to internal audits, the income and expenditure account and balance sheet are audited by KPMG LLP, the Grant-in-aid's external auditors.

An annual report is published and can be downloaded from this page.

The Grant-in-aid voted by Parliament for 1990-91 (before the Royal Household assumed responsibility) was £25.7 million; expenditure was reduced to £14.3 million in 2005-06.

One of the most significant projects of recent times was the Windsor Castle fire restoration project. This was completed on 20 November 1997 at a total cost of £36.6 million, well under the £40 million budget. Some 71% of the cost came from the net surplus from the annual Summer Opening of the Buckingham Palace State Apartments and from the entry charges to the Precincts of Windsor Castle.

Full details relating to the summer opening of the Buckingham Palace State Apartments and income from visitors to the Windsor Castle Precincts are given in the published annual report of the Royal Collection Trust.

Royal Collection Enterprises is the trading subsidiary of the Royal Collection Trust. It is responsible for the management and financial administration of access by the public to Windsor Castle and Frogmore House, to Buckingham Palace including the Royal Mews and The Queen's Gallery, and to the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

It is also responsible for promoting access to the Royal Collection through the development of retail merchandise, the sale of photographic rights and publishing.

The principal aim of the company is to generate income for the Royal Collection Trust to fund the presentation, maintenance and conservation of the Royal Collection.

The schemes for the recently redeveloped Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace and the new Queen's Gallery at the Palace of Holyroodhouse are being paid for from this income. This cost will absorb the majority of the Trust's resources for some time to come.

The costs of maintaining the Palace of Holyroodhouse are met directly by Scottish Office. The Palace is administered by Historic Scotland.

Costs of the Historic Royal Palaces or Unoccupied Palaces are not the responsibility of the Royal Household. The Historic Royal Palaces Trust looks after the Unoccupied Palaces, which include the Tower of London, Hampton Court and the State Apartments at Kensington Palace.

The Unoccupied Palaces receive no Government funding. The buildings are maintained out of visitor admissions and related sources of income.

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT

Year to 31 March  2006 2005

£m £m

Amount of Grant-in-aid voted by Parliament  15.1 15.2

Advance drawn against 2004-05 Grant-in-aid               (0.7)

  

Grant-in-aid drawn down 15.1 14.5

  

Property Maintenance  

Projects and general maintenance 8.7 9.3

Less: visitor contribution (1.4) (1.1)

Supervision   1.5   1.3

8.8 9.5

  

Utilities 2.1 2.0

Fire, health and safety services 1.2 1.1

Non-domestic rates 0.8 (0.2)

Court Post Office 0.7 0.7

Gardens 0.6 0.6

Furniture and equipment 0.5 0.5

Central administration 0.4 0.4

Rent and other recoveries   (0.8)   (0.7)

Total net expenditure 14.3 13.9

      

Net funding from fixed assets and working capital (0.8) (0.6)

  

  

Total net expenditure in 2005-06 includes approximately £1.7 million in respect of VAT (£1.6 million in 2004-05).



  

ANALYSIS BY PALACE: TOTAL COSTS

  

  

Year to 31 March  2006 2005

£m £m

Buckingham Palace 5.9 5.2

Buckingham Palace Mews and Gardens 1.5 1.4

St. James's Palace 1.5 2.2

Clarence House and Marlborough House Mews 0.3 0.6

Kensington Palace (0.1) (0.1)

Hampton Court Mews and Paddocks 0.3 0.3

Windsor Castle 3.8 3.0

Windsor Castle Royal Mews 0.5 0.4

Windsor Home and Great Parks 1.0 1.0

Central costs    1.0    1.0

  15.7  15.0

Visitor contribution (1.4)  (1.1)

  14.3   13.9

Download the Property Services Grant-in-Aid report 2005-06 (1.95MB) "

There are several pages on expenditures,use of funding,et cetera to read.

Answer 6

Monies to support the Queen in the exercise of her duties as head of state of the United Kingdom (the Head of State Expenditure) come from the Civil List. This is a return of a small portion of the revenue from the Crown Lands that are surrendered by the monarch to parliament at the beginning of each reign; all Crown Land being administered by The Crown Estates, an institution that is answerable to parliament. In the 2003-04 fiscal year, the amount surrendered was £176.9 million, where the Head of State Expenditure was £36 million. The Head of State Expenditure does not include the cost of security.

Only the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh receive funding from the Civil List. The Duke receives £359,000 per year.

Only some members of the Royal Family carry out public duties; these individuals receive an annual payment known as a Parliamentary Annuity, the funds being supplied to cover office costs.

    * The Duke of York: £249,000 per annum

    * The Earl and Countess of Wessex: £141,000 per annum

    * The Princess Royal: £228,000 per annum

    * The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester: £175,000 per annum

    * The Duke and Duchess of Kent: £236,000 per annum

    * Princess Alexandra £225,000 per annum

These amounts are repaid by The Queen from her private funds.

Though always voluntarily subject to the Value Added Tax and other indirect taxes, the Queen agreed to pay taxes on income and capital gains from 1992, although the details of this arrangement are both voluntary and secret. At the same time it was announced that only the Queen and Prince Philip would receive civil list payments. Since 1993 the Queen's personal income has been taxed as any other Briton. The Queen's private estate (eg shareholdings, personal jewellery, Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle) will be subject to Inheritance Tax, however bequests from Sovereign to Sovereign are exempt. [2]

Answer 7

It is my understanding that the British Monarchy is paid by the people of Britan. They are given generous allowances and can ask Parlement for more should they need it. A lot of people think this is unfair, as many people don't realize what the monarchy does for Britian. Actually, the biggest contribution they do is foregoing all the rent on all the property they own, a staggering amount of money which would bankrupt the British goverment in short order should those debts come do.  The crown estate is that property, which includes thousands of acres all over Britain and a lot of very nice property in down town London. :)

Answer 8

The royal family is funded through the British taxing system. 37million pounds (roughly 75mill dollars) a year is spent on keeping them royal.

It is ridiculous, I think they recieve taxes from other countries part of the common wealth too. But don't take my word for it.

Answer 9

What???????

They don't pay parliament!!

They are payed out of the public purse.  Basically they are the biggest benefit scroungers in the country.

Answer 10

Between property, art, jewels, etc., the royal family is worth about 20 billion dollars according to Fortune Magazine.  Although they receive about 15 million a year to cover their expenses for public appearances, the queen has a stock portfolio that's worth about 900 million dollars and is where most of her personal income comes from.

Answer 11

The common man, the tax-payer, that's where they get their money! And what do they do in return? Nothing...

Answer 12

i know they make alot of money off our government. there is a base in mildenhall england, and the airmen there have to pay taxes on EVERYTHING!  and it is stupid stuff, tv, door k***s,.... ridiculous things and alot of the airmen are broke!

Answer 13

tax payers, that you and me.