What Is Queen Elizabeth II’s Salary and What Does She Spend Her Money On?

As Britain’s longest reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II is one of the most recognizable figures in the world. And of course, being one of the most famous faces on the planet comes with lots of questions about her life. One of the most common being how much Her Majesty is worth and what she gets paid as the queen.

It’s true that she has a job many people say they would do for free, but Queen Elizabeth actually makes lots of money for performing her royal duties. Here’s more on that and what her net worth is.

Queen Elizabeth II’s net worth

Just how much the queen makes every year varies. As CNN Money notes, she has three main sources of income the Sovereign Grant, the Duchy of Lancaster estate, and her personal property and investments.

The Sovereign Grant is the annual amount given to monarch by the government and yes, it comes from British citizens’ tax dollars. The funds are to support Her Majesty and the rest of the royal family’s official duties. In 2016-17, the queen received £45.7 million ($54 million). The amount changes every year and in 2017-18, she got a hefty check from the government for £45.7 million ($58 million).

As mentioned, she also gets money from what’s known as the Duchy of Lancaster which is a residential, agricultural, and commercial estate. In the 2018 fiscal year, she was paid a cool $27 million from that.

And then there are her personal assets. These include her valuable stamp collection, and the properties of Balmoral Castle in Scotland and the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.

In May 2019, shortly after the birth of her eighth great-grandchild, Forbes estimated that the queen has a whopping net worth of $500 million.

What the queen spends her money on

Since she already lives in a palace, owns plenty of jewels, and has personal chefs, butlers, and housekeepers you may be asking yourself what she spends her money on. Her Majesty reportedly has some frugal spending habits, but she does have a good amount of expenses.

For one she pays all her children, except Prince Charles who makes his own cash from the Duchy of Cornwall, for their royal duties. She uses the money from both the Sovereign Grant and Duchy of Lancaster to reimburse Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward for their time when working on behalf of the family.

She also has to pay her palace staffers their salaries. Those wages were considered pretty low until 2015 when staff members threatened to go on strike if they didn’t get a raise. Since no one picketed outside Buckingham Palace we assume they got an increase.

In addition, the queen gives money to the church collection every Sunday. It’s the rare occasion when she actually carries any cash. A source previously told The Express that her butler irons a note “into a little square by folding it until you can only see her face.”

Read more – Revealed: Which Royal Family Member Cost Taxpayers the Most?

Source: Read Full Article