How Much Do the Royal Family Members Really Make? Breaking Down Prince William and More Salaries
The members of the royal family may dedicate their lives to public service, but that doesn’t mean they don’t earn money.
The monarch’s main source of income comes from a taxpayer-funded settlement known as the Sovereign Grant, which is paid annually.
The Sovereign Grant was worth 86.3 million English pounds, or the equivalent of nearly $113 million, for the 2022-2023 year, per BBC. The same amount was granted in 2021-2022.
How is this whopping payment calculated? In short, the level of profits earned by the Crown Estate, a commercial business that owns and manages an expansive portfolio of land and property for the British monarchy, is used as a benchmark to calculate the funding given by the government to the royal family.
Money from the Sovereign Grant doesn’t simply go into the pocket of King Charles III, the vast majority is spent on the upkeep of properties and staff costs.
The royal family carries out over 2,500 events per year, which are paid for by the Grant, as are additional planned expenses like the 10-year Buckingham Palace refurbishment plan, which is estimated to cost a total of 369 million British pounds, or $483,057,900, and will be completed in 2027, according to the National Audit Office.
For the monarch’s personal expenses, he also receives an allowance, called a Privy Purse, that comes from the Duchy of Lancaster, a separate portfolio of land, property and assets held in trust for the Sovereign.
The Duchy of Lancaster has been passed down from monarch to monarch, and the properties it holds are worth an estimated 654 million pounds and generate about 20 million pounds, or $26,182,000, in profits per year, BBC reported.
Charles and Prince William, who similarly receives his own allowance from the Duchy of Cornwall as the sitting Duke of Cornwall, personally receive the profits from their respective duchies and can spend the money however they wish. One caveat is that they are not personally entitled to any proceeds from the sale of any estate assets, which
