Why the royal family is (probably) worth every penny

Income topping up the Sovereign Grant is around £9.9m, still well short of the £20.2m level in 2019-20. This is mainly due to the impact the pandemic has had on the royal family’s ability to open their palaces to visitors. This generally meant net expenses were £102.4 million – an increase of £14.9m or 17 per cent on the previous financial year.

Funeral and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. cost the taxpayer £161.7 million. Although the cost of King Charles’ coronation has not yet been revealed, royal experts have put the bill at somewhere between £50m and £100m.

Royal property

Most of their private earnings are received by the monarch, known as the Privy Purse, from the possessions of the Duchy of Lancaster. It is a portfolio of land, property and assets held in trust by the state.

His latest accounts show the monarch’s annual income from the estate has risen by £1.9m to £24m.

It has been the personal estate of the reigning monarch since 1399 and is separate from all other Grown estates. It is mainly used to pay for official expenses that are not covered by the state grant and covers the expenses of other members of the royal family.

Royal encouragement

The Royal Family is helping to attract tourism to Britain, pumping hundreds of millions of pounds into our economy. Just under 2.5 million people visited the Royal Collection in 2022, which looks after art and estates owned by the King. Overall, last year the Royal Family generated nearly £10 million in revenue to top up the government subsidy, mostly from these visitors.

But the impact of royal tourism is spreading throughout the economy as holidaymakers spend more freely in shops, hotels and restaurants. The King Charles coronation weekend alone is expected to boost tourism and pub spending by £337 million, according to the Center for Economics and Business Research think tank.

It is difficult to estimate the value of the royal family in real terms, as much of what they offer Britain is intangible. They are a living link to ancient history – one that attracts millions of tourists from around the world. History and heritage are among the top reasons people holiday in Britain, according to research by tourism group Visit Britain.