Did you know that in fact, almost all the royal treasures of Great Britain do not belong to the royal family! But to whom? And how much do Windsors “cost” in general?
All beauty is for the people
Over the long years of the British monarchy has accumulated an impressive amount of jewelry and works of art. But most of them, including the crown treasures stored in the Tower of London, belong to … the people! The royal family is responsible for their safety - and at the same time uses them if necessary. In general, British monarchs began to collect jewelry in the 13th century and successfully used it, giving it as a pledge to other rulers. Then Oliver Cromwell ordered the collection to be destroyed, which would have become a symbol of getting rid of the monarchy.
The modern history of the royal treasury began in the 17th century with the coronation of Charles II, and to this day, Queen Elizabeth II uses many decorations at official receptions. In addition to the famous imperial state crown, adorned with a huge Kohinoor diamond (and 2,800 smaller stones), the collection includes other jewelry, as well as paintings, furniture, and photographs.
What does the Queen own?
However, Elizabeth II cannot complain that she owns nothing. She owns, for example, the estates of Sandringham and Balmoral with a total value of about 150 million pounds (12.2 billion rubles). Such a high price is due not only to the area of the buildings themselves, but also to the unique natural landscape around them. In addition, the Queen has several agricultural farms and stud farms throughout Britain and real estate in London itself.
King George V also left his daughter a legacy of a huge collection of unique postage stamps worth about 100 million pounds (8.1 billion rubles). It began to be collected by the son of Queen Victoria, Prince Alfred, in 1864. The most expensive exhibit is a 2d Post Office Mauritius of 1847 stamp worth about 2 million pounds (162 million rubles). Elizabeth is said to enjoy showing the exhibits to other heads of state during their visits to Buckingham Palace.
Queen Elizabeth's income
In 2017, Brand Finance calculated that the total "value" of the royal family was $88 billion (5.55 trillion rubles). And this number is growing every year. The royal family annually receives a grant of 15% of the profits received from their own possessions. In 2019, the grant amounted to £49.3 million (4 billion rubles), and an additional grant to renovate Buckingham Palace was £32.9 million (2.7 billion rubles), according to Forbes.
In addition, the royal family brings to the state treasury annually about 1.8 million pounds (148 million rubles.), almost a third of this amount is provided by foreign tourists.