Cost of the crown: what we know so far about British royals’ wealth and finances

theguardian.com:

The Guardian’s Cost of the crown series is an investigation into the finances and private wealth of the British royal family – and the vast apparatus of secrecy that obscures these from the public.

Buckingham Palace argues that the financial arrangements of royals should “remain private, as they would for any other individual”. But in the lead-up to the coronation of King Charles III, we believe more scrutiny is warranted.

Important questions remain about the personal enrichment of the royal family, and the extent to which it is born of their public positions. There is also a case for exploring the dubious origins of some of their wealth, and the blurred lines between what belongs to the royal family as opposed to the British people.

You can read a full explanation of why we are investigating the royals, and the questions we are seeking to answer. Below is a summary of our discoveries so far.

Elizabeth II and Charles III have extracted cash payments worth more than £1.2bn from two hereditary estates that pay no tax, in addition to the millions they receive in public funding for their official duties. In 2022, they received £21m each from the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall respectively, despite a centuries-old debate over whether the two estates in fact belong to the British nation.

The monarch, who receives about £86m a year in public money, is technically in line for an extra £250m a year in taxpayer money, according to the terms of a funding settlement introduced by David Cameron as prime minister in 2011. The king has signalled he does not want the extra money, but the arrangement underscores the extraordinary generosity of Cameron’s radical shake-up of royal funding.

King Charles has for the first time signalled his