25th December, 2019
Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s long reigning monarch received an allowance of £82 million ($106 million, 96 million euros) for the financial year 2018-2019.
The money classified as a “sovereign grant”, is intended to pay for the family members’ functional roles as figureheads, as well as the salaries of employees and maintaining places like Buckingham Palace.
The Queen also benefits from a “privy purse” which stems from the revenues of half a billion pounds in assets grown by the Duchy of Lancaster estate since the Middle Ages.
The portfolio of lands, properties and assets held in trust generated almost £20 million last year, which the queen partly shares across the family.
Buckingham Palace does not disclose how exactly these funds are distributed to family members like Andrew.
Reports said the huge allowance the Royal Family draws yearly from the treasury is triggering controversy as the royal family expands and with some members drawing from the allowance for doing nothing.
Some have therefore called for a restructuring of ‘Windsor Plc’, to pare down the cost, especially as Britain faces harsh economic realities in the season of Brexit.
In focus is Prince Andrew, said to be a favourite of Queen Elizabeth.
The British press reports that he receives an annual royal allowance of £250,000 which his mother gives him each year, in addition to a yearly military pension of around £25,000.
The Duke of York, known for his “jet set” lifestyle, lives free of charge, as does his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, in a royal residence.
He reportedly sold a property in Sunninghill, southwest London, which the queen had donated to him, for around £15 million in 2007, and owns a luxurious chalet in Switzerland.
“Bloated royal families are fine when you run a quarter of the world… not so good when you are in charge of a diminished, austere Britain, grappling with recession in the early 21st century,” the Telegraph newspaper said..
Jonny Dymond, who covers the royal family for the BBC, said how much to finance the family “has been a big deal for a long time”.
“It’s the attack point for republicans,” he said.
Dymond noted Britain’s royals have been adept at periodically reinventing the brand, acting as a kind of “ministry of good feelings” for the nation to justify its expenses.
“And that’s the problem with what you have at the moment, which is you’re certainly not getting your money’s worth,” he said.
“You’re not getting that when you have Prince Andrew accused of what he’s accused of, you’re not getting that when Harry and Meghan are busy suing the newspapers.”
*Adapted from an AFP report