Elizabeth II spends very little, except for her guilty pleasure: horses. If she does not hesitate to spend on her precious racehorses, it is because they have brought her a lot of money over the decades: according to figures from MyRacing.com in 2018, she would have received nearly 9.2 million dollars thanks to 452 victories in 30 years.
What about Windsor and Buckingham?
Much of the property often attributed to the Queen actually belongs to the Crown. There is in fact the Crown Estate (Crown estate), a vast portfolio of royal assets which includes more than 1,000 buildings (historic or modern, in the city or in the countryside) and more than 400 sites classified as “natural reserves”. Although she is not the direct owner, Elizabeth II can use part of the income from the Crown Estate (from 15% to 25%, out of 400 million dollars of income per year), in particular to finance her events and travel. officials.
Other sources of income: the annual state grant (the Sovereign Grant, financed by the taxpayer) and the income of the Duchy of Lancaster, which has accrued to each monarch since 1399 and includes agricultural land, residential areas, castles, offices, shopping centers, a financial portfolio…
As for his official residences, Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, she may be master of the place, but these two monuments also belong to the Crown. The British government’s mission is to maintain these buildings, in exchange for a portion of the profits from the Crown Estate. The same goes for the crown jewels (140 pieces) and the many works of art grouped together in the Royal Collection Trust: the collection belongs to Elizabeth II, but not personally, since everything will then be passed on to the next sovereign, probably her son Prince Charles.