Where does Britain’s royal family get its money from?
The monarchy is funded by a mix of government largesse and private assets
Editor's note (April 26th 2023): This article has been updated since publication.
WHEN HIS MOTHER died in September, King Charles III inherited more than just the crown. Under a deal struck by Queen Elizabeth II with John Major’s government in 1993, British monarchs are exempt from inheritance tax when they pass on assets to the heir to the throne. The Sunday Times, a British newspaper, recently estimated the king’s private wealth to be £600m ($745m), much more than the queen’s fortune at the time of her death, which it believed to be £370m. The royal family’s total assets are worth many times that, and the distinction between public and private wealth can be blurry. The Guardian, another paper, puts the king’s fortune at £1.8bn. Where does Britain’s royal family get its money from?
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