How Queen Elizabeth spends her millions: she might have the crown jewels, castles and palaces, but she’s still pretty frugal at heart

May 13 , 2021

Queen Elizabeth II waves to the crowd in Windsor, England, on her 90th birthday in April 2016, but how does she spend the millions given her in the Sovereign Grant? Photo: WireImage

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s 2019 tour of Africa cost US$347,000, but Prince Charles’ trip to Oman, after the death of Sultan Qaboos, was almost as much

In financial year 2018/19, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, St James’s Palace and the Palace of Holyroodhouse hosted almost 500 official functions

Although Queen Elizabeth has an enviable collection of crown jewels, castles and palaces, like the rest of us she has also suffered financially as a result of Covid-19. Even if the Crown Estate – a portfolio of prime land and property in Central London – has been valued at more than US$18 billion, only a fraction of that epic sum reaches the queen’s purse, through the form of the annual Sovereign Grant.

For the 2019-2020 financial year, it totalled £82.4 million – around US$116 million – or the equivalent of US$1.74 from every one of her British subjects. That’s around the same as everyone in the country buying her majesty a portion of chips for her birthday – though sadly no fish.

The pandemic and the resulting shortage of tourists however has left a US$45 million hole in the royal household’s annual accounts, according to the Keeper of the Privy Purse, Michael Stevens. That smarts even more when the fall in income – mainly from visitors paying to get a look inside royal palaces and buildings – is set to be repeated in this year’s accounts.

Burberry Flagship store in london’s Regent Street – pictured closed in early 2021. Photo: SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

To get an idea of the size of the shortfall, it’s first worth remembering the queen’s reputation for being frugal. Very frugal. The Sunday Times reported that in the royal household and palaces: “Newspapers are shredded for horse bedding, parcel string is reused, frayed sheets and dusters are darned.”

That sounds more like upcycling to us, but the point is clear. Money is not wasted. Maybe the adage about looking after the pennies – and the pounds looking after themselves – rings true after all.

Hold the violins for now, however. Her majesty isn’t emptying the piggy bank quite yet. But the question that intrigues us most is what does she spend it on?