The UK Royal Family is worth $28bn, here’s how they make their money

If you ever wondered the source of the wealth of the British royal family, here’s an insight into what you should know.

By Michael Ndu-Okeke

Last month, CBS, an American foremost broadcast station paid Oprah Winfrey a staggering $7 million to

obtain exclusive rights for her interview with the runaway royals. The interview went on to attract over 17.8 million viewers in the US alone.

The widely viewed interview has put the Royal family is in the eye of the storm following some steep accusations made by out-of-favour royals Prince Harry and Megan Markle.

One of the standout accusations according to Forbes was the cutting off of the annual $7.8 million disbursed to the Royal princes for their private family operations. Prince Harry’s son, Archie was also excluded from assuming the prince title and being a working Royal.

Experts at Forbes believe the bad publicity following the Oprah Winfrey interview is putting the UK Royal Family Business at risk. The UK Royal family is a standalone organization separated from the official UK Government.

Have you ever wondered how they make money?

READ: Queen Elizabeth II Isn’t As Rich As You Think

Royal Family Business 

The UK royal family business structure is known as “The Firm” or Monarchy LLC.

It is a $28bn business entity with over 1000 years of history. It is carefully managed by the senior members of the UK Monarchy.

In this brief article, we are going to highlight 3 major ways the British Royal Family makes money annually.

Sovereign Grant 

The Sovereign Grant is the official funding provided by the UK government to its Monarchy.

The Sovereign Grant covers the Queen’s costs of travel, security, staff and the upkeep of royal palaces. The Sovereign Grant is generated from the Crown Estate. The crown estate is a collection of prestigious UK farms and estates that generates millions of pounds every year. The UK government collects a huge chunk of it and gives the Queen 20% of it.

According to CNN Money, the Queen received £42.8 million ($58 million) free of tax from the Sovereign Grant in the 2016–2017 fiscal year.

The payment was projected to grow to £76.1 million ($103 million) in the latest fiscal year to help finance an extensive renovation of Buckingham Palace. Senior members of the Royal family are paid directly from the sovereign grant too.

READ: Caught On Camera: British Prime Minister Tells Queen Nigeria Is “Fantastically Corrupt”

Media and Tourism 

The UK Royals are arguably the World’s biggest Influencers. According to Forbes, the televised wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle added a whopping $1.5bn to the UK Economy via TV rights and tourism.

A UK brand valuation firm stated that the UK Royal family added an estimated $70 million to the media industry in 2017.

According to the BBC, the tourist board of Great Britain stated that the tourist attractions to the UK Royal family palaces pull in £550 million every year.

The Royal family also makes a lot of money through the goodwill of well-wishers and fans.

Real Estate 

The UK Royal family own an extensive real estate business, some dating back to 1265. The real estate holdings consist of residential and Agric farms pulling in good money annually. We are going to quickly highlight some notable ones below.

• The Duchy of Lancaster is a combination of commercial, agricultural and residential properties that dates back to 1265. It produced £19.2 million ($26 million) in income for the Queen in 2018.
• The Buckingham palace a resident palace inherited by the queen with an estimated net worth of $5 billion.
• Windsor Castle with an estimated worth of $236 million.
• The Balmoral Castle with an estimated Net worth of $140 million.

Other senior notable members of the Royal Family own their own lucrative private real estate businesses which they earn good money from.

What to Know 

• According to Forbes, the Queen’s personal wealth is estimated at $500 million thanks to her two estates, investments and jewellery.
• The UK Royal Family is worth a combined $28 billion
• According to the Sun, the Royal family lost about £18 million in tourism, due to the Coronavirus lockdown.