From glamourous Regent Street to The Oval cricket stadium and the remote Isles of Scilly, the British royal family's sprawling fortune and who controls it is only one facet of the coming coronation of King Charles III.
The senior royals derive their income from vast areas of the United Kingdom, from rural lands to urban properties and even the offshore seabed. The senior royals own a lot, but have far from a free rein over all their assets.
As well as king and heir Charles and his son Prince William, as Prince of Wales, have a second function – trustees of the huge properties and tracts of rural lands that come under their ownership.
Three bodies that hold the royal family’s assets and from which they drive a good portion of their income are the Crown Estate, the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall.
The value of these estates run into tens of billions of pounds. That's even before the personal properties such as the Balmoral and Sandringham estates or Highgrove House, where King Charles has devoted decades to building farms and gardens to reflect his personal values of stewardship.
The Crown Estate
The King owns the Crown Estate, which includes 241 properties in London worth more than £15 billion ($18.69 billion), farmland and, crucially, the seabed and about half the foreshore around the United Kingdom.
Owning the seabed has brought much in to the Crown Estate coffers in recent years, because of the explosion in the development of offshore wind farms. The current value of the seabed rights is estimated at £5 billion, and the six newly awarded licences could generate up to £9 billion over the next 10 years.
The Crown Estate owns much property in the St James area and Regent Street in London's West End. It also manages the Windsor estate, including Windsor castle, and Ascot racecourse.
The total revenue from the Crown Estate is worth more than £312 million a year.
However, while King Charles III owns the assets of the Crown Estate, he has no control over them – he does not manage them and he cannot sell them. When he dies, the Crown Estate will pass to his son, Prince William.
But this sense that the monarch owns the land goes back nearly 1,000 years. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, all the land belonged to William the Conqueror "in right of The Crown", simply because he was king.
For centuries, English kings and queens then looked after their own financial affairs and managed their lands and estates.
But in 1760, George III surrendered the income generated from the Crown Estate to the Treasury in exchange for a fixed amount he and his family would receive each year, known as the Civil List.
That changed in 2012 when the Sovereign Grant replaced the Civil List and tied the financial fortunes of the monarch directly to the Crown Estate, in that the monarch received 15 per cent of the surplus of the Crown Estate.
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, only the monarch, her husband, Prince Philip and the Queen Mother received money directly from the Civil List, and the Civil List Act of 1972 allowed the government to review the amounts every 10 years – but law allowed only for increases, not reductions.
By 2001, there was a considerable surplus of £35.3 million in the Civil List’s coffers, and subsequently, the Civil List was set at £7.9 million a year until it was abolished in 2012.
According to the UK Treasury, the Sovereign Grant “meets the central staff costs and running expenses of his majesty’s official household – including official receptions, investitures and garden parties”.
“It also covers maintenance of the royal palaces in England and the cost of travel to carry out royal engagements such as opening buildings and other royal visits.”
The Sovereign Grant was initially based on 15 per cent of the profits of the Crown Estate, but since 2017 (and until 2027) that has risen to 25 per cent to cover the refurbishment of Buckingham Palace.
In the event that the profits from the Crown Estate fall, the level of the Sovereign Grant will still be paid at the level of the previous year. This is why the grant for the 2022/2023 financial year is £86.3 million, the same as it was in 2021/2022.
Wealthy playgrounds
However, the Crown Estate is not the only source of income for the royal family. The monarch, currently King Charles III, inherits the Duchy of Lancaster when his or her predecessor dies.
Essentially, the Duchy of Lancaster is the monarch’s private wealth. According to the Duchy’s website it consists of 18,481 hectares of land in England and Wales and “comprises commercial, agricultural and residential properties, the majority of which are in Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire and Lincolnshire”.
“Additionally the Duchy has a significant commercial property portfolio largely in the Savoy precinct on the Strand in London, a portfolio of financial investments and a small urban residential portfolio.”
The history of the Duchy of Lancaster goes back to 1265, when Henry III gifted the baronial lands of Simon de Montfort to his son, Edmund. De Montfort was a serious rival to Henry III and was killed at the Battle of Evesham.
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A photo released by Buckingham Palace as they announced that King Charles III had been diagnosed with cancer. All Photos: Getty Images unless stated -
King Charles attends the Sunday service at the Church of St Mary Magdalene on the Sandringham estate in January -
King Charles and Queen Camilla leaving The London Clinic in January. The King had been receiving treatment for an enlarged prostate. -
King Charles delivers his Christmas message at Buckingham Palace in December 2023 -
King Charles delivers an address at the opening ceremony of the Cop28 Summit in December 2023 in Dubai -
King Charles and Prince William attend the National Service of Remembrance at The Cenotaph in November 2023 in London -
King Charles and Queen Camilla at the State Opening of Parliament in November 2023 -
King Charles waters and plants a tree watched by President of Kenya, William Ruto in October 2023 in Nairobi -
King Charles and US President Joe Biden review a guard of honour at Windsor Castle in July 2023 -
Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince William, King Charles and Queen Camilla during the National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, in July 2023 -
King Charles and Queen Camilla on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, after his coronation. PA -
King Charles, carrying the Sovereign's Orb and Sceptre, leaves Westminster Abbey after the Coronation in May 2023. AFP -
King Charles III is crowned with St Edward's Crown by The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby during his coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey in May 2023. PA -
King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla, centre, with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife Elke Buedenbender during the king's state visit in March 2023 -
King Charles and Camilla during a visit to the Bangladeshi community of Brick Lane, London, in February 2023 -
King Charles welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the leader of the Conservative Party to form a new government in October 2022 -
King Charles during the recording of his first Christmas broadcast at Windsor Castle in December 2022 -
King Charles follows the coffin of Queen Elizabeth as it is carried from Westminster Abbey after her state funeral. AP -
King Charles holds a vigil beside the coffin of his mother, Queen Elizabeth, as it lies in state on the catafalque in Westminster Hall. PA -
King Charles greets members of the public as he walks by the gates of Buckingham Palace after the death of Queen Elizabeth. AP -
King Charles shakes hands with British Prime Minister Liz Truss during their first audience at Buckingham Palace -
King Charles III delivers his address to the nation and the Commonwealth from Buckingham Palace after the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022 -
Prince Charles with Camilla and Prince William during the ceremonial state opening of parliament at the Palace of Westminster in 2022 -
Prince Charles and Camilla on a visit to Giza in Egypt in 2021 -
Prince Charles joined members of the British Asian Trust for a short bicycle ride as they launched the charity's Palaces on Wheels cycling event at Highgrove in 2021 -
Prince Charles walks behind the Duke of Edinburgh’s coffin during the funeral of Prince Philip in 2021 -
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles during the state opening of parliament at the Palace of Westminster, London, in 2019 -
Prince Charles, Prince William, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry arrive for a Christmas Day church service on the Sandringham estate in December 2018 -
Prince Charles leads Meghan Markle up the aisle during her wedding to Prince Harry in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in 2018 -
Prince Charles and Camilla attend a dinner hosted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, in Amsterdam in 2013 -
Prince Charles and Harry in front of an Apache helicopter at the Army Aviation Centre in Middle Wallop, 2011 -
Queen Elizabeth presents Prince Charles with the Royal Horticultural Society's Victoria Medal of Honour at the Chelsea Flower Show, west London, in 2009 -
An official portrait to mark Prince Charles's 60th birthday in 2008 -
Prince Charles and his new bride Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle after their wedding in April 2005 -
Charles with his sons William and Harry on a ski break at Klosters in Switzerland in 2005 -
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles in Avignon during a state visit to France in 1972 -
Prince Charles learns a soul dance routine at St George's Secondary School in Maida Vale, west London, in 1978 -
Prince Philip, Prince William, Earl Spencer, Prince Harry and Prince Charles follow the coffin of Princess Diana at her funeral in London in September 1997 -
Diana and Prince Charles pose with their sons, Princes William and Harry, on Prince William's first day at Eton College in 1995 -
Prince Charles and Diana on a visit to Nottingham in 1985 -
Diana and Prince Charles with Prince Harry leave St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, west London, in 1984 -
Prince Charles and his wife Diana with their baby son, Prince William, at home in Kensington Palace in 1983 -
Prince Charles and Diana with son William in 1983 -
Prince Charles and Diana on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on their wedding day in 1981 -
Prince Charles at a polo event in Windsor Great Park, accompanied by the queen and Prince Edward, in 1971 -
Prince Charles leaving Caernarfon Castle after his investiture as Prince of Wales, in Gwynedd, 1969 -
Prince Charles during a tour of Wales in 1969 -
Prince Charles playing cricket in 1968. He was playing for Lord Brabourne against a team of Grand Prix racing drivers. -
Prince Charles and Princess Anne at Windsor Great Park in 1968 -
Prince Charles at the University of Cambridge in 1967, where he was beginning his term at Trinity College -
Queen Elizabeth and her family travel to Sandringham in 1966. Prince Andrew is on her lap, the Duke of Edinburgh to her left with Princess Anne on his lap, and Prince Charles, right -
Prince Charles, walking a Corgi, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and their nanny Mabel Anderson at Euston Station, London, in 1963 -
US President Dwight D Eisenhower, centre, with the British royal family, left to right, Prince Philip, Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles, at Balmoral Castle in 1959 -
Queen Elizabeth watches her son Prince Charles driving a toy car in the grounds of Balmoral Castle in 1952 -
A young Prince Charles is perched on the lap of his father the Duke of Edinburgh, while his mother Queen Elizabeth II looks on in the grounds of Windlesham Moor in 1949
A year later, Henry added the estate of Robert Ferrers, the 6th Earl of Derby and then the "honour, county, town and castle of Lancaster", giving Edmund a new title, Earl of Lancaster.
Over the next 150 years, the Duchy was added to and changed hands between various royals and nobles competing for the medieval English crown.
Then in 1399, in one of his first acts as the new king, Henry IV decreed that the Duchy of Lancaster was to be treated separately from the other Crown possessions, and should be passed through the generations as the monarch’s private estate.
About 300 years later, under the Crown Lands Act 1702, it was established that the sovereign would be able to receive only an income from the Duchy, in order that it could be passed on to the successor in its entirety, thus preserving the wealth for future generations.
So, while the ruling monarch inherits the Duchy of Lancaster on accession to the throne, the next in line acquires the Duchy of Cornwall.
This means that upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles inherited the Duchy of Lancaster. As Prince of Wales, he owned the Duchy of Cornwall, but on becoming king that Duchy passed to his heir, Prince William, the new Prince of Wales.
The Duchy of Cornwall was established by Edward III in 1337 to provide independence to his son and heir, Prince Edward.
The Duchy is principally a land management company, comprised of 54,632 hectares, about half of which are in Dartmoor and various properties in Somerset, Herefordshire and the Isles of Scilly. About 13 per cent of the Duchy’s land holdings are actually in Cornwall.
The Manor of Kennington in London was one of the original properties in the Duchy estate. In this area of south London, the Duchy of Cornwall owns 16 apartments and 23 houses.
It also owns the Oval cricket ground and has leased the property to Surrey County Cricket Club since 1874.
As is the case with the Duchy of Lancaster for the monarch, the Prince of Wales is unable to benefit from any capital gains acquired from the sale of assets by the Duchy – he receives an income from the profits made by the Duchy.
Under an act of parliament in 1913, the Duchy of Cornwall was exempt from tax. However, between 1993 and 2022 when he ascended to the throne, King Charles III voluntarily agreed to pay tax on his Duchy earnings and there are indications that his son, Prince William will continue that arrangement.
Taxing times
The issue of tax has always been a tricky one for the royal family. Until the early 1990s Queen Elizabeth II was exempt from tax, before she and Prince Charles (as he was then) voluntarily agreed to pay income tax.
The issue of tax exemption for the royals goes back to Queen Elizabeth's father, George VI. He was granted full income tax exemption status as compensation for having to provide an annual annuity to the abdicated Duke of Windsor.
But when Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne, the then government of Winston Churchill thought it prudent to keep this tax-exempt status with the new queen, because it meant the Civil List payments were kept lower.
In the austere post-war years of the 1940s and 1950s this was seen as keeping the public perception of the cost of the royal family to the taxpayer lower than it actually was.
In a way, the tax breaks enjoyed by Queen Elizabeth II amounted to another source of income during those years.
However, while the royal income tax exemption and the fact that the Duchy of Lancaster pays no corporation tax, one of the crucial boosts to the royal finances is the fact that the sovereign pays no inheritance tax.
This was illustrated when the Queen Mother died in 2002. She left her entire estate, estimated to be worth about £75 million, to the one person in the realm who didn't have to pay inheritance tax – her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
The inheritance tax exemption means that the private estates of Balmoral and Sandringham should have passed tax-free to the new King Charles, after the death of his mother, in the same way they passed from George VI to his daughter.
However, much of the Windsors' finances are shrouded in a fog, because very few public accounts exist of exactly who pays for what. While accounts are published by the Crown Estate and the duchies, what happens to the money the monarch and heir to the throne get from the sources is less clear.
There has always been an air of mystery surrounding Britain's royal family and none more so when it comes to their finances.
Whether or not King Charles's plans for a slimmed-down monarchy include a more visible and transparent set of accounts is itself not particularly clear at the moment.
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Royal enthusiasts at their impromptu campsite on The Mall in London, where they await the May 6 coronation procession of King Charles III. Getty -
Police officers patrol near Westminster Abbey as security is heightened for the coronation. AFP -
A telephone box in the village of Compton, Surrey, decorated with the ears, nose and crown of King Charles. AFP -
A royal fan takes a break after booking his spot on the coronation route in London. AP -
Town crier Tony Appleton takes the train into central London. AFP -
The drum major's state coat, adorned with the new CR III cypher, to be worn during the coronation. AFP -
Decorations are put up outside Number 10 Downing Street in London. AP -
A royal fan gets into the spirit of the coronation on the Mall outside Buckingham Palace. Reuters -
Yeoman of the Guard, the British sovereign's bodyguards, prepare to board a bus in London. Getty -
The UK's military held a full dress rehearsal for the coronation ceremony of King Charles III on Tuesday night. Reuters -
A royal fan sleeps at The Mall outside Buckingham Palace as the countdown to the coronation continues. Reuters -
Big Ben, in central London, is lit up during a rehearsal for the ceremony. PA -
An art installation in London depicts St Edward's Crown. AP -
Madame Tussauds in Sydney, Australia, unveils a waxwork figure of King Charles, alongside figures of Prince William and his wife Kate. Reuters -
Royalists have slept out on The Mall in London for days for the best view of the ceremony. EPA -
A knitted coronation-themed postbox topper in Isleworth, London. AP -
Tailor William Skinner with a ceremonial uniform on Savile Row, London, before the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla, on May 6. Reuters -
Caroline de Guitaut, deputy surveyor of the King's Works of Art, adjusts the imperial mantle, a part of the coronation vestments, in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace. AFP -
A banner celebrating the coronation at Kings Cross Station in London. AP -
Upholsterer Beatrice Ekwalla works on restoring a throne chair for the coronation at the Marlborough House workshops in London. AFP -
Royal fan Margaret Tyler poses for a portrait in the living room of her home in north London. EPA -
Parliament Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle with the Speaker's State Coach. PA -
Violinist Adrianna Forbes-Dorant, 17, takes part in a rehearsal with the Brixton Chamber Orchestra for coronation performances in London. AP -
British Army soldiers rehearse at RAF Odiham for a coronation parade. Getty -
Shoppers browse souvenirs for the coronation of King Charles III outside the Houses of Parliament in London. Reuters -
Temporary stands are constructed on The Mall outside Buckingham Palace, central London. PA -
Members of the military pass by Westminster Abbey in central London during a night-time rehearsal for the coronation. AP -
Britain's Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, attends a Coronation Big Lunch at Westminster Abbey. Reuters -
The London Scottish Band in Burlington Arcade, London, at an unveiling of a celebratory installation to mark the coronation. PA -
A crown is placed on top of a flagpole on The Mall in London. Getty Images -
The official 'Crowning of the King' souvenir programme sits on a shop shelf in central London. AFP -
Workers prepare the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the big event. AFP -
Ardent monarchist Anita Atkinson sits among her 13,283 pieces of royal memorabilia at her Weardale farm near Bishop Auckland. AFP -
Members of the Household Cavalry take part in a rehearsal for the coronation at Buckingham Palace. Getty Images -
King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla will travel to the coronation in the modern Diamond Jubilee State Coach and return in the Gold State Coach, pictured. PA -
A potter works on chinaware produced for the coronation at a factory in Stoke-on-Trent. AFP -
The Coronation Chair, also known as St Edward's Chair or King Edward's Chair, at Westminster Abbey in London. AFP -
King Charles is presented with the first struck £5 coronation coin by Royal Mint chief executive Anne Jessopp and director Rebecca Morgan at Windsor Castle. Reuters -
The first struck £5 coronation coin. Reuters -
A member of staff at Fudge Kitchen puts up bunting in Windsor. PA -
A crown made by British milliner Justin Smith, created using 319 Scrabble tiles to mark the board game's 75th anniversary and the coronation. PA -
People browse a souvenir kiosk in London. Reuters -
The new commemorative 50p coin, part of the coronation coin collection. PA
