- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
have said that they will work
to become financially
independent from the royal family
as they step back from their
roles in the British monarchy.
That has raised a
potentially awkward question.
How does the royal family fund
itself in the 21st century?
It's not something the royal
family like to publicize,
but here's what we know about
their main sources of income.
There's something called
the Duchy of Lancaster,
almost 45,000 acres of
commercial, agricultural,
and residential properties
in England and Wales
owned on behalf of the queen.
The Duchy comprises around
$710 million in net assets,
which is mostly held in trusts.
The profit made by these sites,
castles, historical land,
and property at the heart of the capital
goes directly to the queen
and no other member of the royal family.
Last year, it netted
her 20.7 million pounds
or $26.7 million.
Next up, there's the Duchy of Cornwall.
Like the Duchy of Lancaster,
the Duchy of Cornwall is a private estate,
except this one is owned on
behalf of Prince Charles.
In 2019, the Duchy of Cornwall
paid Charles over $28 million
on almost $1.2 billion of net assets.
Though the profit goes
directly to Charles,
both Prince William and Prince Harry
receive money from the
Duchy through their father.
Last year, they got around
five million pounds in total
from Prince Charles' fund.
There are questions whether
Harry will have to give up
this source of funding
if he is to become
financially independent.
Then there's the family's personal wealth.
That's the investments,
companies, and private estates
that various royals hold.
The value of this
and what they yield in
income is undisclosed.
For instance, the queen private
owns the Sandringham Estate.
How much the royal family
gains from this income
is unknown, but royal biographers estimate
the royal family's wealth
is in the millions, not the billions.
That means royals in the 21st century
might be rich, but they're not super-rich.
In a move to keep this
revenue stream going,
the Duke and Duchess of
Sussex, Harry and Meghan,
have applied to trademark Sussex Royal,
a brand which will cover
a whole host of items
ranging from socks to greeting cards.
The largest source of
income for the royals
is government money
through a thing called
the Sovereign Grant.
In the 1700s, the monarchy
handed over revenues
from swathes of land to the government
known as the Crown Estate.
Each year, the government pays
a percentage of the profits
made on those assets back to the monarchy.
That annual income is known
as the Sovereign Grant.
Last year, it amounted
to almost $107 million
and it paid for royal duties
and the maintenance of palaces
including Buckingham Palace.
Meghan and Harry don't
appear to be ready to give up
all of those funds.
The couple's website, sussexroyal.com,
said that they expect to
keep state-funded security
and they want to continue
to live in a cottage
owned by the queen and refurbished
at a cost of $3.1 million to the taxpayer.
The fact that such a large
proportion of the royal income
effectively comes from
taxpayers is part of the reason
why there is such public
interest in this decoupling.
The monarchy has spent
years trying to rise above
such earthly matters as how
they are actually paid for,
and that's one of the reasons
why the Meghan and Harry debacle
is leaving the monarch
feeling uncomfortable.
(cameras snapping)
