Surrender the Wind by Elizabeth St. Michel

Take Balmoral Castle and Sandringham House, for example. Where has all the Windsors’ money come from? The simple answer is that it all originates from the public purse, either directly or indirectly through unique tax breaks, then augmented by investments (again not properly taxed). Worse, some files, especially those containing embarrassing financial information, are kept in the private royal archives in Windsor where they will disappear into a black hole, perhaps forever. When I visited Kew, I found there were 3,629 closed files on the Royal Family. NORMAN BAKER: 'It is a curious thing that our Royal Family was effectively bankrupt in 1760 when George III came to the throne, yet today they are fabulously wealthy in their own right'īut not royal ones. The National Archives are releasing ever more of our historical documents as the years go by, and from earlier and earlier. Uniquely.Īfter pressure from Charles, the supply of information has dried up to a dribble. And while over the years the scope of the Freedom of Information Act has been generally been extended, allowing enquiries about a greater range of public bodies, secrecy about the royals has gone in the opposite direction. Royal wills are locked up in a metal safe behind an iron cage in Somerset House. Indeed, they have always been open for inspection in this country as an essential safeguard to prevent theft and malpractice.īut uniquely the royals have secured an exemption meaning that, since 1911, their wills have been hidden from the public. Wills are public documents, as everyone knows. The highly unusual way they treat legacies is a good example. At every turn they have used the tax system to their advantage and a culture of secrecy to prevent awkward questions. So, just how much money have the Windsors accumulated?Įxact figures are hard to come by and no wonder: the Royal Family likes it that way. It is a safe bet to assume that what she bequeathed to Charles will have increased substantially.Īt any rate, we can assume that the latest ‘Monarch-to-Monarch’ transfer of wealth is a considerable loss to the exchequer. Her stamp collection alone was put at £100 million. The Duchy of Cornwall owns estates and property around the country, including King Charles's private home, Highgrove in Gloucestershire, Dartmoor and the Scilly IslesĪnd how much money was involved? Even back in 2001 The MoS calculated that the Queen was worth £1.15 billion, almost certainly an underestimate then, let alone now.

Surrender the Wind by Elizabeth St. Michel