How rich is the Royal Family?

The Queen is likely to fund part of Prince Andrew’s settlement with Virginia Giuffre, it has emerged, giving rise to fears that public money could be spent on the multi-million pound agreement.

The Duke of York this week settled a civil sexual assault case brought against him in the US by Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of raping her after she had been trafficked by the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. He has always denied the allegations. 

The out-of-court settlement is reportedly worth up to £12m – although some newspapers have put the figure at £5m to £7.5m – and includes a “substantial donation” to Giuffre’s charity for abuse victims, said the BBC.

According to The Telegraph, some of the funding for the out-of-court settlement will come from the Queen, who has “already privately funded the Duke’s legal fight to the tune of millions of pounds”. It is understood that she will “partly fund” the settlement to allow the Royal Family to “draw a line under the case that had threatened to overshadow her Platinum Jubilee”.

The Queen could use funds from the “surplus of her Duchy of Lancaster estate”, said lawyer Craig Prescott on The Conversation. The estate grew to £22.3m in 2022. She could also draw her private investments, which are worth around £365m.

How much money does the family have?

According to Forbes, the Queen has an estimated personal net worth of about £380m ($500m).

But that is nothing compared to the net worth of the Royal Family and Crown Estate combined -with business consultancy Brand Finance valuing the Royal Family at £67.5bn in 2017.

The monarchy’s tangible assets – which include the Crown Estate, the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, and the Royal Collection, including the Crown Jewels – account for £25.5bn of that total.

However, most of the family’s value is tied to the Royals’ positions and is not personal wealth. As such, the Queen is not ranked among the world’s billionaires.

What is the Sovereign Grant?

According to the government’s website, the Sovereign Grant “sets the single grant supporting the monarch’s official business, enabling the Queen to discharge her duties as head of state”.

Article source: https://www.theweek.co.uk/105160/how-much-money-does-royal-family-have