there's no question that the British
royal family is wealthy look at their
homes their transportation their
weddings their jet-setting they live the
lifestyles of the richest people on
earth
so when Prince Harry and Megan Arkell
announced they wanted a new financial
relationship with the monarchy it opened
up questions about how the British
family really make their money and what
exactly are Harry and Megan leaving
behind it turns out the search for those
answers starts with some of the most
iconic royal real estate this map shows
some of the real estate in the UK that
is associated with the royal family
this is Balmoral Castle in Scotland
where the Queen spends her summers this
is Savoy Chapel nestled between
buildings in central London and this is
Windsor Castle just outside of London
where the Queen often hosts foreign
leaders each one of these three
properties represents a different way
the royal family makes their fortune the
first is one of two that falls in the
Queen's private wealth which means if
she were to leave the throne it would
still be hers
these can be traced back to the 1800s
when Queen Victoria bought them and
they've been passed down through
generations the other set of properties
that contribute to their private wealth
are the duchies am I saying that right
duchies Duchess that's right there is
something called the Duchy of Lancaster
this is a old estate ancestral estate
dating back from the 14th century
it's now a portfolio of property and it
provides a private income for the Queen
that portfolio includes historic sites
and land throughout the UK which is a
lot but the most profitable property are
these blocks of commercial real estate
in central London which includes Savoy
Chapel there's also the Duchy of
Cornwall a hundred and thirty thousand
acres of property that includes castles
holiday cottages and a cricket stadium
in London over the past 60 years the
duchies have become increasingly
profitable in 2019 they each made just
over twenty million pounds for the royal
family
the income from the Duchy of Cornwall
goes to the heir to the throne Prince
Charles about five million pounds of
that went to his sons William and Harry
in 2019 and the income from the Duchy of
Lancaster goes to the Queen but there's
a catch
she only gets that because she's she's
Queen it goes through the job if she
indicated tomorrow she wouldn't get
thirty million dollars a year it is it
goes with the crown as it were and
because it goes with the crown it's not
really totally a private estate the best
guess of the net worth of the Queen the
richest royal family member is about
three hundred and seventy million pounds
that's obviously very rich but it puts
her nowhere near the richest people in
the world the illusion of the Royal
Family's wealth is greater than their
actual wealth because of the third way
they make money these properties are
part of what's called the Crown Estate
the Crown Estate includes iconic
landmarks like Windsor Castle Buckingham
Palace in the Tower of London it also
includes commercial real estate in
London and lots of land including the
seabed around the UK this group is worth
billions of pounds but it doesn't
actually figure into the Queen's wealth
and the reason behind that can be traced
back to a time the Royals really needed
money in the 18th century had a long
list of of German kings the George's
George's one two two four and they
wasted a lot of money and they were
terrible with money and he got into lots
of trouble with the government and in
the end one of the George's George third
said you know I'm broke I'll give you
all my Crown lands these for the
personal land owned by the king and in
return you give me a set amount of money
so they gave up ownership of all these
lands in exchange for taxpayer money
that would pay for the royal family's
lifestyle this part of their income
today is called the sovereign grant
between 2018 and 2019
that amounted to about 80 million pounds
we don't know exactly how much of the
sovereign grant went to Harry and Megan
but it accounts for 5 percent of the
couple's income as part of their royal
titles the other 95 percent comes from
the Duchy of
Cornwall the sovereign grant funding
doesn't go into the Royal Family's
pockets it's supposed to enable Her
Majesty to carry out her official duties
like to travel to pay her staff and to
maintain the royal residences
even so taxpayer support for the
monarchy has long been controversial and
that became evident when Windsor Castle
caught fire in 1992 smoke continued to
roll from gaping holes in the roof 15
hours and one and a half million gallons
of water later as the royal treasures
littered the lawn like an upmarket
garage sale it was learned there was no
fire insurance should you will you pay
for the repair of Windsor Castle
Patricia in Notting Hill hello let's see
why us as the taxpayers should pay for
the winds classifiers actually her has
that debate continues today
every time the sovereign grant report
comes out the new home of Megan and
Harry the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
cost the public nearly two and a half a
million pounds to refurbish that's more
than three million dollars but the
argument in favor of public funding
usually centres on how much people have
always loved the royal family and are
willing to pay for it the monarchy
attracts millions of tourists every year
there baby announcements in their
weddings and even their scandals are
broadcast around the world now the royal
family is all about image they don't
actually have that much formal power
what they do have you know is a brand
you know they didn't call one of the
most valuable brands in Britain but a
big part of maintaining that brand is to
not exploit it if you're working royal
you're not really allowed to have a
private source of income you're not
allowed to cash in that means not
working outside of their official royal
duties like diplomacy and charity work
and that these real estate portfolios
are the primary way they make money
this is the financial model that Prince
Harry and mega Markel are leaving behind
in their announcement in early 2020 they
said they give all this up in favor of
being financially independent what they
be taking with them is their private
wealth which is a lot Megan was a
successful actress on the TV series
suits and Harry inherited millions from
his mother Princess Diana they may also
keep earning income from the Duchy of
Cornwall what they would be giving up is
this part of their income and also
breaking free from the limitations of
taxpayer funding but with that
independence comes the fear that they'll
be committing the ultimate royal taboo
capitalizing off the monarchy and they
could be viewed as using the monarchy to
boost their brand they're already in
talks with Disney they're talking to
Oprah the very future of the monarchy
could be at stake here especially if the
brand that Megan and Harry have created
at Sussex royal eventually eclipses the
brand of the British Royals but in one
important respect
it's rather healthy because what it is
done it is raised to the surface a
number of issues not just to doing Harry
but to do with the whole royal family
that haven't been properly addressed how
does a royal make a living and maybe it
needs to loosen up a bit to be a bit
more flexible
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