Wealth and Finances of the Spanish Royal Family

[wyevale]

Why aren’t they privately as wealthy as the British, Dutch and Swedish?

Having been deposed, dispossessed and exiled, they were forced to use what little remained of their assets to live in exile..None of the Royal Houses you mention have been through that trauma.

[tommy100]

The Spanish RF are not necessarily the cheapest Royal House, they just have the smallest budget. A lot of other costs are just passed on to other Government departments. For example in the Dutch and British RFs the cost of royal flights using military aircraft are stated as part of their budget, in the Spanish RF these costs are met by the Military and not stated.
Its not to say they aren't the cheapest, but at present we can't compare each RF as they way they show their costs is to different.

[Kitty1224]

Originally Posted by wyevale

Having been deposed, dispossessed and exiled, they were forced to use what little remained of their assets to live in exile..None of the Royal Houses you mention have been through that trauma.

I think they have secret money somewhere.

[Lee-Z]

Originally Posted by Kitty1224

I think they have secret money somewhere.

But with little proof of this, it's just an opinion and i don't think we can base their wealth on that?

[Kitty1224]

Originally Posted by Lee-Z

But with little proof of this, it's just an opinion and i don't think we can base their wealth on that?

As you have little proof about them not being rich. Goes both ways!

[Duc_et_Pair]

Originally Posted by Kitty1224

Why aren’t they privately as wealthy as the British, Dutch and Swedish?

From 1931 until 1975 the Spanish throne was vacant. The family had been exiled for decades. Many properties were confiscated and looted by republican governments. Lands were taken away and redistributed. You will understand thay this must have exhausted the private wealth of the Borbóns.

[AdmirerUS]

Originally Posted by Kitty1224

I think they have secret money somewhere.

And your source for this? The same argument applies for both points of view. Do they have buckets of money or not - we don't know.

[Kitty1224]

Originally Posted by AdmirerUS

And your source for this? The same argument applies for both points of view. Do they have buckets of money or not - we don't know.

So you are saying they wouldn't have invested privately?

[M. Payton]

And you are saying that they do have money hidden??????????? Where could that be now, a Swiss bank account??????

[Denville]

Originally Posted by Kitty1224

So you are saying they wouldn't have invested privately?

Invested what privately?

[Lee-Z]

Reminds me of a somewhat similar thread from a while ago
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...ml#post2039438

[lula]

Alfonso XIII left an account with money in Switzerland to help the Royal Family, money that was recovered after the death of the Count of Barcelona.

Count of Barcelona recovered two palaces of vacations of the family that did not belong to the National Patrimony and sold them.

Juan Carlos' money is a subject about which there is a lot of information and legends ... but nobody really knows.

So although they are not rich like other monarchies, they have money.

[camelot23ca]

I don’t think they’re as relatively poor as they’re made out to be but also not as massively wealthy as some reports have stated. I forget what ridiculously high number The New York Times, of all papers, quoted as Juan Carlos’ net worth.

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. It would be interesting if Juan Carlos’s finances were subject to the same scrutiny as his son in law’s were. I think, especially in the early and middle part of his reign, the Spanish government, industry, society, etc may have been inclined to look the other way if Juan Carlos accumulated wealth by means other than his salary. And if one has sufficiently powerful friends there are ways that the money can be discreetly tucked away.

Then there are the gifts that never get reported because they’re considered private. I read an interview with one of the long term royal reporters a few months ago who talked about this exact issue and made reference to an extremely expensive piece of jewelry that was given to Letizia by, I believe, one of the Middle Eastern monarchs. She was talking about it as a counterpoint to the “austerity” picture Felipe is trying to project. Of course we’ll never see any of these expensive gifts but they do add to a family’s wealth. I would imagine Sofia also received plenty of gifts like these and the majority of them will go to her daughters, to then be discreetly sold.

[lula]

The issue of money and the alleged business of Juan Carlos can be very complicated, and has always moved in speculation ... it is difficult to say that it is true and that it is a lie.

I think that that journalist talks about some earrings that Queen Letizia has worn, and that it is speculated could be Arab gifts. We really can not know if they are new gifts and if those gifts have been treated as official or private until they publish the gift lists, the one from last year is not yet published.

The gift lists are a rule of King Felipe, nobody knows how it worked before, and probably Letizia has received several jewels over the years, but we will never know if they are considered private or not. Queen Sofía has a very extensive collection of jewelry given by the Arabs.

Queen Letizia has recovered many Queen Sofia's jewels last year, jewels that in some cases had been in the drawers for decades, and probably there will also be jewels that were gifts and Sofia did not use because they were not to her liking.

[Kitty1224]

Originally Posted by Denville

Invested what privately?

Money. Could have made investments, ect... To think they have nothing is not right.

[Somebody]

Originally Posted by Kitty1224

Money. Could have made investments, ect... To think they have nothing is not right.

Nobody says they have nothing. The original statement that was made is that they are not as wealthy as some other royal families - and the evidence that was presented was that they were deposed, dispossessed and exiled for quite some time which typically is quite detrimental to the finances of a royal family as they tend to keep to their previous lifestyle to some extend (hence why a marriage to wealthy spouse is appreciated). By now they surely have recovered somewhat but it would be illogical to think that they accumulated the same amount of wealth in about 40 years as the other royal families did in 200 years or more.

[Kitty1224]

Originally Posted by Somebody

Nobody says they have nothing. The original statement that was made is that they are not as wealthy as some other royal families - and the evidence that was presented was that they were deposed, dispossessed and exiled for quite some time which typically is quite detrimental to the finances of a royal family as they tend to keep to their previous lifestyle to some extend (hence why a marriage to wealthy spouse is appreciated). By now they surely have recovered somewhat but it would be illogical to think that they accumulated the same amount of wealth in about 40 years as the other royal families did in 200 years or more.

Well thats true, but anything is possible :)