2 June 2012, United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II’s rental property & business management empire, Crown Estate, reported a 9,200% increase in revenue over the past 60 years!
Keep in mind that according to an Act of Parliament, all profits from the Royal property/business management scheme are to go to the British Treasury! According to the Financial Times: “Under an agreement struck between King George III and the government in 1760, the portfolio was managed by the Crown on behalf of the state, with surplus revenue going to the Treasury. In turn, the Treasury made a fixed annual payment to the monarch.”
Also: “The Queen has no powers to liquidate assets belonging to the Crown Estate. She cannot buy or sell properties and is entitled to a modest slice of the company’s revenues.”
So how much money is the Crown Estate making? Here’s what the Crown Estate’s own website claims: “…the urban estate the value of the portfolio increased by 11.6 per cent to £5.2 billion [$7.9 billion USD].”
“…marine estate revenue increased by 1.7 per cent to £47.4 million [$72.8 million USD]. Total property value rose to £586.9 million [$902.2 million USD]…”
“…income from renewables….rose….to £3.5 million [$5.3 million USD]…”
“The coastal estate…added £14.3 million [$21.9 million USD] in revenue…”
“…capital value of the rural estate exceeded £1 billion [$1.5 billion USD] for the first time…”
“…asset management saw revenue rise….to £25.7 million [$39.5 million USD]…”
The question is, if the Crown Estate is making so much money, and it’s supposedly meant to benefit the commoners of the United Kingdom (through the state) then why is the government of the United Kingdom imposing such drastic austerity measures upon those very commoners?
Just how much is the “fixed annual payment to the monarch”? Under a new Sovereign Grant Act, beginning in 2012 the Queen can receive only 15% of the revenues. How much was she getting before that?
But wait, there’s more! Members of the royal family own other property companies, not beholden to the British government. Here’s one; the Grosvenor Estate.
“The Grosvenor Estate is a portfolio of businesses, rural estates and other assets owned by trusts on behalf of Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor who is the 6th Duke of Westminster, and his family.”-Grosvenor website
However, unlike the incompetent British government (by the way the Queen is the literal boss of the House of Lords in the British government, she is not a figure head!), Grosvenor Estate is actually spending money to try and build up the economy in the English city of Liverpool. The Duke’s Grosvenor Estate is spending the equivalent of $1.5 billion USD on a project called Liverpool One.
Again, the question is, what happened to all the money from the Queen’s Crown Estate that was supposed to be used for the people of Britain?