SUMMARY
- Despite a cut in profit share from the Crown Estate, the royal family anticipates a significant financial boost due to unexpected profit surge.
- The Crown Estate, including offshore wind facilities, is predicted to generate over £1 billion in profits for the monarchy by 2024-2025.
- Anti-monarchy groups have criticized the increase and the Treasury's presentation of the data, calling it 'grossly misleading.'
A significant surge in the financial allocation to Britain's royal family by the UK government is anticipated in the coming years, as per the latest assessment of the annual Sovereign Grant. This comes as a surprise considering the Treasury officials announced a reduction of the Crown Estate’s profit share payable to the royals from 25% to 12% starting next year.
The potential increase is attributed to a sudden swell in profits, which means the royal family might receive a larger sum than in preceding years, despite the cut in percentage. The Sovereign Grant, which is derived from the earnings produced by the Crown Estate, envelops the inherited assets of the monarch. This estate is a grand portfolio worth a total of £16 billion ($20.5 billion), which includes sizable tracts of land and expansive stretches of the British coastline and seabed, all belonging to the royals.
One key revenue source for the Crown Estate, and by extension the Sovereign Grant, comes from the offshore wind facilities owned by the royal family, which have generated a "substantial additional income." The Sovereign Grant this year remained stable at £86.3 million, the same as the previous year, but projections suggest that the royal family could generate profits of approximately £1.04 billion and £1.05 billion in 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 respectively, from the Crown Estate.
This translates into a possible £124.8 million in 2025-2026 and £126 million the following year, received by the monarchy at the newly adjusted 12% rate. The review also disclosed that the grant will be reassessed ahead of the financial year 2027/28, however, due to the "golden ratchet" clause implemented in 2011, the funding cannot fall below the previous year’s level, even if profits decrease.
There have been several criticisms against this increase, primarily from organizations opposed to the monarchy, who contest the way the Treasury presented the data. In response to the funding news, the CEO of Republic, an anti-monarchy campaign group, issued a press release labeling the claim of a £24m reduction in the Sovereign Grant as "grossly misleading." Buckingham Palace and the Treasury have not yet responded to these remarks.
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