The monarch’s sprawling estate has lost millions of pounds as even the Royal Family feels the bite of the coronavirus pandemic. So much so, the Queen’s Sovereign Grant will now receive a cash injection from the Treasury to offset a nosedive in profits.
The major cash boost will support the 94-year-old’s property and land investments, which have fallen in value following the UK lockdown to fight the COVID-19 crisis.
But is the Treasury right to prop up the Firm during the coronavirus pandemic?
The monarch’s empire is now worth £13.4billion, according to annual figures.
Before March, when the UK went into a nationwide lockdown, the estate had enjoyed profits of £345million.
Annual profits from the Crown Estate go to the Treasury, with 25 percent passed back to the Firm in the form of a Sovereign Grant.
The Treasury will not allow the Queen’s finances to drop and will ensure they remain the same in 2022 and 2023, according to the Daily Mail.
READ MORE: Queen to receive MILLIONS from taxpayer to beat coronavirus losses
Instead the Grant bank rolls “official business” conducted by the Estate.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman also said as well as supporting official royal duties, the Grant is also put towards maintaining the royal palaces and is “calculated on 15 percent of the income surplus of the Crown Estate”.
They added: “An additional 10 per cent was agreed to fund a ten-year re-servicing of Buckingham Palace.”
The monarch’s Crown Estate includes London’s Regents Street, St James’s, retail parks across the UK, the Windsor Estate and Ascot Racecourse in its portfolio.
Over the last decade, the Estate is reported to have generated £2.8 billion for the Treasury.
But due to “economic and market disruption” from the pandemic, the Crown has announced it will stagger payments to the Treasury this year.
It has paid more £88 million in July “with further payments to follow as trading conditions develop”.
