King Charles and Queen Camilla's private fortune explained
King Charles and Queen Camilla are among some of the wealthiest people in the United Kingdom, with the King earning £86million each year through the sovereign grant – a number that will rise to close to £125million in 2025.
Alongside this annual salary, the King and Queen have an astonishing net worth thanks to their collection of assets, including the late Queen's beloved Balmoral home, several of her racehorses, and an impressive jewellery collection that was started by Queen Elizabeth's late grandmother, Queen Mary.
Want to know about Charles and Camilla's monumental fortunes? Scroll down to find out all you need to know…
Where does King Charles and Queen Camilla's net worth come from?
As aforementioned, the King collects a yearly salary through the sovereign grant, the royals will then use this money to pay for expenses from official duties such as royal tours and upkeep on royal residences.
However, this isn't Charles and Camilla's only source of money, as they also source income from the Duchy of Lancaster, which is passed down from monarch to monarch. The Duchy of Lancaster covers 18,000 hectares of land in Lancaster and Yorkshire, as well as some properties in London. The entire land is valued at £645million, and it generates £20million worth of profit each year.
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Before becoming King, Charles would have benefitted from the Duchy of Cornwall, which covers land in south-west England, however, this was transferred to Prince William when Charles ceased to be the Duke of Cornwall.
Investments
According to a report from The Guardian, King Charles's total net worth is estimated at around £1.8billion with some of this coming from their properties, cars and private collections. However, one secretive part of the King and Queen's fortune comes from their investments.
Due to the unknown nature around what Charles and Camilla have personally invested in, it's impossible to get a true total, although the Guardian's estimate places it at £142million. The late Queen is likely to have passed all of her investments onto her son and in 1993 a Times reporter found that around £43million worth of holdings was held by Her Late Majesty in FTSE 100 companies.
If these investments remained exactly the same, they would have been worth £118million today. What's more, as the late Queen didn't pay inheritance tax, all of these assets would have transferred to Charles in their full amount.
Property
Although areas like Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Kensington Palace are synonymous with the royal family, these are actually owned by the state rather than by the King and Queen, and so they don't actually earn any money from these.
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However, Charles and Camilla do personally own Balmoral in Scotland and Sandringham in Norfolk. Expert valuers estimated the worth of Balmoral at £80million, while Sandringham dwarfed this and is believed to be worth around £250million. Sandringham draws its finances from being a heavily monestised property, tourists are charged £23 to visit the estate when the royal family are away, while the 8,000-hectare land is home to rental properties, commercial lets and farmland.
Jewels
One of the most obvious assets that Charles and Camilla have are the family's private collection of jewels, which was started by the King's great-grandmother, Queen Mary. The Guardian report suggests a pretty picture for the royals, with a conservative estimate valuing the jewellery collection at £533million.
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On top of this, due to their royal pedigree, it's more than likely that if Charles and Camilla put their jewels up for auction, they would collect even higher than valued. When some of Princess Margaret's jewels went to auction in 2006, they ended up earning 18 times more than what their upper estimate were – one item was valued at just £30 and ended up being sold for £3,600.
The late Queen owned over 300 pieces of jewellery, and it's likely that she passed all of these onto Charles and Camilla.
Inheritance
Due to the royal family not paying inheritance tax, any assets that the late Queen left to Charles in her will, will have been untouched in value. The late Queen's personal wealth was estimated to be around £500million at the time of her death, and this will likely have transferred to Charles in its full amount – it is also likely that the King will have inherited another £70million in assets that were owned by the late Queen Mother.
Other assets
Alongside everything already mentioned, there are other parts to the King and Queen's fortunes. A private car collection of the royal family is estimated to be around £6.3million, while the late Queen is likely to have passed on her racehorses to the King.
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Although Charles doesn't hold the same love for horse breeding that his late mother did, he is believed to have gotten £27million worth of racehorses. The monarch has already begun auctioning off some of the horses, so far fetching around £2.3million.
A more unique asset is a private stamp collection, which was started by the King's great-grandfather, King George V. The collection contains several very rare stamps from as far afield as countries like Laos and is roughly valued at £100million.
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