Intro
Queen Elizabeth recently passed away, leaving behind a heavy crown, an unparalleled legacy, and quite the fortune behind her.
Queen Elizabeth’s Private Wealth
It should go without saying that the Queen of England was massively wealthy. I’d expect all of that to be her royal wealth. She actually had a substantial private wealth as well.
Aside from the incredible fortune of royal has access to, Queen Elizabeth had several sources of income that brought in quite a sizable chunk of cash. She was said to be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 million dollars at the time of her end.
A good deal of this wealth came from trusts, portfolios, and land, primarily the Duchy of Lancaster. She then inherited a sizable fortune when her mother passed away in 2002.
All of this won her the Guinness World Record for richest queen in the entire world.
As far as her queenly assets go, being English royalty is no joke. For instance, just look at Buckingham Palace. It is the most recognizable royal palace in the entire world, and its worth definitely reflects just that.
It alone is worth 4.9 billion dollars. People still travel from all around the world just to catch a glimpse and a selfie with it. It has likely paid for itself 20 times over by now, if not more.
The palace also has several pieces from the famous Royal Collection, one of the finest art collections in the entire world. The entire collection was shown via the Queen’s Gallery, a rotation from the collection. It is said to be worth by itself 5 billion.
While it isn’t nearly as well known, Scotland’s Balmoral Castle is far from worthless. It is an enormous estate as well that is said to be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of 140 million dollars.
It doesn’t bring in quite as many tourists, but it does look much more likely to repel a medieval French army if one of those travels in.
Then there are the Crown Jewels. The country’s most precious objects include over 23,000 precious gemstones.
First, we have the coronation regalia that are all the ceremonial objects used to symbolize the monarch’s power. Then there are the crowns, like the Saint Edward’s Crown, which is only used at the crowning ceremony itself.
Then there’s the Imperial State Crown, which is made of gold and has been set with 2,868 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, 269 pearls, and 4 rubies. All of it together is said to be worth over 3 billion.
Though the true value of this collection is priceless.
As far as the state cars go that carry the family around, they own two Bentleys and three Rolls-Royce. It’s not exactly the flashiest car collection I’ve ever seen, but then again, they aren’t the flashiest royal family in the world either.
Who Will Inherit?
The inheritor of her fortune should be no surprise to anyone. Her eldest son will take on her entire fortune.
Before the loss of his mother, Prince Charles was worth an estimated 100 million dollars. This came from the real estate trust called the Duchy of Cornwall. It was set up to provide for the Prince of Wales and his family, with nearly 20 to 30 million dollars coming in each and every year.
Not only will he inherit her entire fortune, he won’t have to pay any taxes on a single pound of it. That’s because not only do monarchs in England not have to formally declare their wealth, they also don’t have to pay taxes.
So he will take her estimated 500 million dollars in full. He will now be worth 600 million dollars as he ascends to his new title.
Succession
There’s one thing people are much more interested in than the passing of her massive fortune, though. That would be, of course, her royal title.
Elizabeth II served as Queen of England for 70 years and 214 days. She was not only the longest monarch in England, serving since she was 25 years old, but the longest-serving queen in the entire history of man.
Now that incredible legacy is being dropped on the same shoulders as all of her private cash. Her oldest son, Charles, will now be known forever as King Charles III.
He will also inherit through title the vast wealth of the crown. While it is, of course, presented more like he will oversee the fortune on behalf of Great Britain, he will seriously benefit from the crown’s 25 billion dollar worth.
It also produces an estimate of 20 million dollars in profit every year. Though there have long been rumors that Charles wouldn’t see the crown at all.
Could William Have Become King?
The problem with the new King Charles is that there’s never been a lot of love for the former prince. He has always awkwardly attended to his royal duties.
Then there was his horrible marriage to the incredibly popular Princess Diana and the subsequent divorce. Most people never got over it and kinda hoped his son William would leapfrog his dad and become king.
This actually could have happened due to something called the Act of Succession 1701, which would have allowed a vote to change succession, House of the Dragon style.
This hope was dashed, but it is still likely that we will see King William before too long. King Charles is 73 years old and could quite likely retire only a few years into his service, allowing for his incredibly popular son to take his crown.
One thing about the royal family is absolutely for certain, though: there was no chance it was ever going to be Harry.
The most famous royal drama since Princess Diana came about when Prince Harry married Meghan Markle, then left the royal family behind for good—a sentiment some seem to be eager for.
The End of the Monarchy
While most were quite sad about the Queen’s passing, there were others that, let’s just say, weren’t quite as upset about it.
For years, there has been a growing opinion that the entire idea of having a British royal family is a bit antiquated, and maybe the whole thing should just end with Queen Elizabeth.
While there are a ton of ethical issues to consider about the nature of the monarchy continuing, let’s just look at the raw numbers alone. How much does the royal family cost the United Kingdom each and every year?
Well, just looking at 2021, it was estimated that the family cost taxpayers over 120 million dollars in one year alone.
Though it’s just not that simple. Many have long argued that the royals bring in quite a bit of value to the nation. Most of that is said to come in tourism.
They bring in millions of people each and every year who want to visit Buckingham Palace. It’s been estimated that the crown may just bring in billions to the country.
Numbers have been projected as high as 28 billion.
Ultimately, what they bring in today is sheer spectacle and entertainment value, along with national pride. They’re like professional Kardashians if their show had been on for centuries.
Outro
Overall, the UK is worth over 740 billion dollars, so I’d say regardless of the royal future, they’ll be just fine.