It’s hard to imagine, but the British royal family doesn’t have a money printing machine either. The recent series of events has presented King Charles with massive financial challenges. Will King Charles soon become the king of the red?
LONDON – At the level of financial forecasts for the British royal family, it is not a question of whether King Charles III (74) should soon do without four o’clock tea as a cost-cutting measure, but to estimate the monarchy’s financial position on the balance sheet. British media are predicting pay cuts of around $60 million a year for the yet to be crowned King Charles, as news.com.au explained in a comment. Is it too little income or too much spending that the royal balance sheet is out of whack?
Prince Philip was blunt about money: ‘I’ll have to give up the game of polo’
The answer is neither nor. There can be no question of balance. Royalty hangs on two lines of money: the Sovereign Grant, which comes from the Treasury, and the profits from the Duchy of Lancaster’s holdings. Most expensive item on the spending side at the moment: The renovation of Buckingham Palace. Over the course of time, such exceptional services had to be mastered again and again. Rarely have they been commented on by the Windsors themselves. A real exception was Prince Philip (99, † 2021) with his statement in 1969 when he admitted in an interview: “Next year we will be in the red … I will have to give up the game of polo.”
Unfortunately, profane money worries have also been placed in King Charles’ inheritance package. The percentage the Treasury calculates is currently a grant of 25 percent of Crown revenue, which is a conservative estimate of around $150 million for the royal family to squander. But this rate will drop to 15 percent by 2027, when the financing of the renovation work for 640 million dollars over ten years should be completed. income from a lucrative wind farm contract King Charles recently turned to his people to contain the livelihood crisis that is currently making life difficult for the British.
In “Megxit” times, interesting details about funds came to King Charles III. to days
In his 2022 book Revenge, Tom Bower wrote that Meghan Markle (41) only realized after marrying Prince Harry (38) that the monarchy was “neither brimming with money nor an invincible luxury roll -Royce machine is”. The prince, who moved to California, also reported that his father is said to have said to him: “Well, dear boy, you know that there is not enough money for everyone. I can’t pay for anyone anymore. I already have to pay for your brother and Catherine.”
At the end of last year, the Daily Mailthat King Charles eventually stopped taking Prince Harry’s calls and told the late Queen Elizabeth II (96, † 2022) “Because I’m not a bank.” (An insider said the Daily Mail then: “Harry isn’t as wealthy as people would like you to believe. He wanted money.”)
The royals are rich on paper, but that doesn’t necessarily mean money in their pockets
What remains is the private income from the duchy’s real estate, which is fixed in real estate and investment contracts and cannot be sold at will and turned into money. Taxes are also due on the impressive $38.5 million in profits from the duchy. It has not been confirmed, but Charles probably uses it to finance Princess Anne’s family (72), Prince Edward (58) to William (40) and Kate (41), which also includes Prince Andrew’s (62) immense legal costs and settlement amount.
The British royal family may be rich on paper, but it doesn’t seem to be looking lavish in terms of actual cash going forward. Not to forget that the three-day coronation celebrations in May need to be funded. Although the monarch voted early on for a slimmed-down version of the coronation, the exceptional event should still not be cheap.
The BBC interview in which Prince Andrew first commented on Jeffrey Epstein in November 2019 was intended to be a liberation. Instead, it was a disaster for the Windsor son. He dismantled himself in 49 minutes. For King Charles III. the film comes at the wrong time. Sources used: dailymail.co.uk, news.comaand
