How much does the Royal Family cost the British Public ?..
Two figures are always produced when costs such as these are discussed, normally a low cost and a high cost, with the real figure somewhere between the two.
A program on the BBC today mentioned a real cost of £334 million, and this was stated by a representative of the Republic organisation. So this is expected to be the HIGH end of the estimates.
A quote on their website is:
The estimated total annual cost of the monarchy is £334m, around eight times the official figure published by the royal household
The monarchy is expensive, very expensive.
When all the hidden expenditure is included, the real cost of the monarchy to British taxpayers is likely to be around £334m annually.
https://republic.org.uk/what-we-want/royal-finances
The other figure mentioned is the “Sovereign Grant”. This has been set at 15% of surplus revenue from the crown estate.
The Sovereign Grant is provided by HM Treasury and consolidates the funding previously provided through the Civil List and the Property Services, Communications and Information and Royal Travel Grants-in-aid.
http://www.royal.gov.uk/TheRoyalHousehold/Royalfinances/Sourcesoffunding/TheSovereignGrant.aspx
The Queen received a Sovereign Grant of £37.9million from the Treasury for the year to April 2015.
But this is not the only money that is paid to the Monarchy.
Why do we pay the British Monarchy?
Most Royal Families would not need paying as they historically own the land etc. But the British Royal Family gave the majority of the income from its assets to the British Public in 1760.
The Crown Estate as a whole dates back from the time of the Norman Conquest. In 1760, George III reached an agreement with the Government over the Estate. The Crown Lands would be managed on behalf of the Government and the surplus revenue would go to the Treasury. In return, the King would receive a fixed annual payment, which today we call the Civil List.
If we ended this, do we have to give that property back to the family. ? The Estates portfolio has a value of over £7.3 billion.
How much Income does the Monarchy produce for Britain?
Reports like this one seem to show they are a valuable tourist attraction
British Monarchy generates 500 million pounds of income from foreign tourism on an annual basis
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