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IS IT WORTH IT ?

A team of Guardian journalists recently discovered how robustly royal finances are protected from public scrutiny. Buckingham Palace responding to their enquiries with comments such as ‘ask someone else,’ ‘work it our for yourself,’ or simply ‘you have no right to know’.

However, working with expert valuers, they have now estimated that King Charles has a private fortune of some £1.82 billion. The largest element of this wealth comes from the £653 million estate of the Duchy of Lancaster which also provides him with a personal income of £20 million per year. 

The Guardian team also work out that the UK taxpayer contributes somewhere between £86m and £122m each year towards the royal household. Of the seven European monarchies this is  2 to 3 time more than the second highest sum of £44m paid to Willem Alexander of the Netherlands and is 11.5  to 16.5 times that of the lowest contribution of £7.4 m which is made to King Felipe VI of Spain.

In 1993 the Queen agreed to pay ‘voluntary’ income tax although the family are exempt from inheritance tax’ and their estate remains intact with wills sealed for 90 years.

This crochet crown is thanks to ‘Lau Loves Crochet’ who devised the pattern and Fredrica who made the one shown here.

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