Royal Wealth and Finances 1: Ending 2022


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It's a bit unfair for the press etc to have a go at both the Duchy of Cornwall and the Crown Estates because some of their tenants are needing to claim housing benefit.

If anything they should be applauded considering an increasing number of private landlords are refusing to have anything to do with tenants that find themselves having to claim any sort of help for whatever reason.
 
If the Queen could sell BP, then I would consider it hers and she would be responsible for the repairs and upkeep. However, if it is not her personal property, then I would think it the responsibility of the British people to maintain it through the taxes they pay.
 
Rocketmom said:
If the Queen could sell BP, then I would consider it hers and she would be responsible for the repairs and upkeep. However, if it is not her personal property, then I would think it the responsibility of the British people to maintain it through the taxes they pay.
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I'd be quite happy for a large chunk of my tax to go towards the much needed repairs and upkeep of the royal palaces, just a pity that our government would rather waste money on other things instead of sorting out this country first.

I honestly believe the Sovereign Grant is in dire need of an increase, perhaps even above what is needed normally just so the vital repairs can be made otherwise I fear that the repairs are going to get to the point of it being cheaper to demolish buildings rather than have them repaired or restored.

If one of us lived in a house with ancient boilers and plumbing, not to mention dodgy wiring, crumbling walls we would be able to take the landlord to court in order to force them to carry out repairs, pity the Queen cannot do the same with the government.
 
Rocketmom said:
If the Queen could sell BP, then I would consider it hers and she would be responsible for the repairs and upkeep. However, if it is not her personal property, then I would think it the responsibility of the British people to maintain it through the taxes they pay.
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1; the 60p or something we pay in taxes, goes to the money that The Queen is supposed to spend on repairs to the palaces.

2; We don't live there, why should we pay additional tax to repair a building we have to pay to visit for a few hours?

The Queen knows what money she has and common sense dictates how it should be used, evidently common sense did not dictate it should be spent on the places she lives in.
 
The new method of payment "Sovereign Grant" has only been in place for 1 full financial year, plus part of another. The criticism levelled by the Parliamentary Committee was unfair IMO because they used the new method as a stick to beat HMQ (or rather her advisers) when there has been little or no time in which to sort out repairs with the new level of funds.

I can't remember the exact figure but HMQ went without a real term increase in monies for c. 20 years. She used the funds to pay wages. She used her own income (D of Lancaster) to pay for her family to support the royal family (except PoW and family).

This new funding includes her having 100% responsibility to maintain the buildings she uses. That was the deal and that is what was accepted. She now gets 15% of the PROFIT from Crown Estates - I think the last figures quoted were c. £37 million.

While Crown Estates is making money, she should be getting on with repairs.

I do think that she needs to rethink her financial advisers. Crown Estates and Duchy of Cornwall are increasing their income through sound investment of resources. Duchy of Lancaster isn't increasing at the same level.

Time to criticise when Sovereign grant has been in place for - IMO 5 years - and we revisit the state of the palaces.
 
Obviously the Royals have a limited budget, but I think some of the criticism is based on the huge amounts of money they can find for some things such as the royal train at £81 a mile but not most important things such as the palaces
 
royal-blue said:
Obviously the Royals have a limited budget, but I think some of the criticism is based on the huge amounts of money they can find for some things such as the royal train at £81 a mile but not most important things such as the palaces
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From the Royal website

Where appropriate, The Queen and other members of the Royal Family use scheduled train services for their official journeys.

In addition, the Royal Train is used by The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh and The Prince of Wales on longer journeys around the UK.

The Royal Train enables members of the Royal Family to travel overnight and at times when the weather is too bad to fly, and to work and hold meetings during lengthy journeys. It has modern office and communications facilities. ................

...The current Queen's and Duke's Saloons came into service in 1977, when they were extensively used during the Silver Jubilee Royal tours.


The cost is the entire cost so if used as a rolling hotel, it reduces those sort of expenses and the train is also v secure. It also enables work to continue during travelling time.

The fact is it is rarely used today as it at the end of its days. Last useage figures I found were 2011 and it was used 19 times. Only HMQ, DoE, PoW and Duchess of Cornwall are allowed to use it.

It is unlikely to be replaced.

I think it is an entirely practical solution to them travelling around the country.
 
I read of a recommendation to merge the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster with the Crown Estates - this seems like a sensible proposal to me - it would benefit the nation as a whole instead of the individual recipients of the profits. The Duke of Cornwall could be placed back on the Civil List along with his parents.
 
There is NO Civil List anymore. That ended in 2012.

There is the Sovereign Grant and it doesn't pay the day to day bills but the official expenses of the monarchy e.g. the cost of the salaries of the staff of HM and DoE for their official duties.

The Duchies are to give them an independent income - they are really their salaries but also the money used to pay a salary for the extended family as well along with the costs of the official duties of those extended family members.

To merge the duchies with the Crown Estates either HM and the rest of the family either they would then have to increase the payments to them to actually give them some money on which to live OR have them with no means to support themselves from private means.
 
This is just my take on it. To be honest, I liked hearing that Will and Kate have decided to add a family kitchen to the apartment. From what I've read about KP's apartments (primarily Diana's), there is a kitchen which is capable of handling just about any kind of entertainment needs to a full blown formal banquet. IIRC too, the dining room is also quite on the formal side.

I see the family kitchen as the Cambridge's "hub" of the family much like it is for most families. In my addled mind I even picture them as sort of a family you'd find in a Norman Rockwell painting. Mom cooking, Dad reading the paper and Lupo under the table sniffing for donations from the kids. It also stands to reason to me that this is an indication that they will not be hiring a full time cook.
 
Robert Jobson @theroyaleditor · 5h
Head of Stare, her consort & heir to the throne should be financed by public. William, Kate & Harry too. But where should the line be drawn?
 
It's just the most wonderful time of the year fot the usual bunch of moaners about the cost on the Monarchy, the freeloaders royals etc... The DM is of course stirring the pot with delight ...
 
Nico said:
It's just the most wonderful time of the year fot the usual bunch of moaners about the cost on the Monarchy, the freeloaders royals etc... The DM is of course stirring the pot with delight ...
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Oh most certainly and the big winner of it all is the papers like the DM who raise their circulation which then raises the sponsors of the ads which then can ply the whiners and moaners with tempting ads to lure them to spend their money on things they have been told they want. Christmas is just around the corner and the time to start flashing those ads is now. :ROFLMAO:
 
 
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I will never forgive the government of the time getting rid of Royal Yacht Britannia - what is the point of such a beautiful ship being left in dock so far away from everyone and turned into a museum?
Everyone loves a ship and it gave such joy....for a few million pounds a year it would have been well worth saving. I do wonder sometimes about the Queen though, she should have been tougher about it and insisted it was kept or used in privately herself.
Bring Back The Royal Yacht!!!
 
The reason for scrapping Britannia was cost - it needed a refit which was going to cost millions and millions and at the time the public wouldn't have stood for more money to be spent on such an extravagance.

Had that been needed in the 80s it would have been done but in the 90s no way - the royals were on the nose.

It was also when the freeze on royal income was extended (started in 1992 and only ended in 2012) so the Queen went for 20 or so years with no pay increase (my pay increased 150% in that time and didn't keep pace with inflation) but she had to continually make economies in order to keep everything going.
 
Iluvbertie said:
The reason for scrapping Britannia was cost...
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I think at some point down the road the Yacht should have been replaced though. The Yacht was used as part of the working "Firm" and it had a lot of life left in her. Even Prince Philip think there were ways to update the Yacht without costing a great deal.

I don't see the problem with replacing it the future.
 
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