Queen Elizabeth II might be wealthier than your average Brit, but Her Majesty falls far behind many of Britain’s wealthiest people.
Some may be wondering just how much money The Queen has, following the Platinum Jubilee celebrations – and the release of an annual report detailing the Royal Family’s funds.
If you’re feeling curious about where all The Queen’s cash comes from, this guide should help explain.
Here’s how the Royal Family makes their money, and Her Majesty’s personal net worth.
How does The Queen make her money?
As you might expect, The Queen, now aged 96, doesn’t have a typical nine-to-five job.
Rather, Her Majesty’s money comes from three combined sources: the Sovereign Grant, the Privy Purse, and also personal income and inheritances.
The Sovereign Grant is provided by the Treasury and is a single annual payment paid to the royals. It has been in place since 2012 and is based on a percentage of the profits of the Crown Estate – a property business that is independently run but owned by The Queen.
The Queen receives the Sovereign Grant for carrying out official duties and for the upkeep of ‘occupied’ royal palaces. These include Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace.
These palaces are not private property, and will be passed down to those in-line for the throne, so they can never be sold by Her Majesty or another monarch in future.
The Royal Family website announced that the 2020 to 2021 expenditure came to £85.9 million (£1.29 per person in the UK).
In the 2021 to 2022 review, it emerged the royals spent £102.4 million, up 17% from the previous year (which is £1.49 per person in the UK, when using Worldometers’ population figures).
An extra £14.4 million was spent on property maintenance, totalling £63.9 million, owing to Buckingham Palace renovations.
The Sovereign Grant also covered£4.5 million in official royal travel, £1.3 million in housekeeping and hospitality, £3.2 million in utilities and £23.7 million in payroll costs.
When the royal expenditure cannot be covered by the Sovereign Grant, The Queen can then turn to the Privy Purse.
This is the sum of the net profits made by the Duchy of Lancaster estate – another private estate that spans over 18,000 hectares of land as well as property and other assets.
Its profits for the year ending March 2021 totalled over £22 million, but according to the Palace, The Queen pays tax on this income.
She is also reported to pay tax on her personal wealth and inheritance including on that of her own properties.
She inherited both Sandringham Estate and Balmoral Castle from her father. Meanwhile, The Queen Mother left Queen Elizabeth II an estimated £70 million upon her passing in 2002.
She also inherited her late husband Prince Phillip’s estate, which is estimated to be worth £10 million, following his death in April 2021.
The Sunday Times also states: ‘The Queen, 95, owns Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle, and there is also an investment portfolio, mostly in British blue chip shares, which will have risen strongly off the back of the rising stock market in recent months.’
Finally, The Queen is also a keen stamp collector, which has certainly paid off with a collection value of around £100 million.
What is The Queen’s net worth?
Despite Queen Elizabeth II being the ruler of the United Kingdom, she is not the richest person in the country.
In fact, she is far from it, though does not lack wealth, with The Sunday Times Rich List estimating her personal net worth to be £370 million as of May 2022 – including the Sovereign Grant income.
Comparatively, Sri and Gopi Hinduja and family top the Sunday Times Rich List with a staggering worth of £28.47 billion.
Sir James Dyson and family take the second spot with an estimated worth of £23 billion.
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The Queen’s position on The Sunday Times Rich List is unknown, as she did not fall within the top 250 entries.
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