Who Pays the Bills in the Royal Household?

Have you ever wondered where the funding for the Queen comes from? Does she pay the bills herself, or does it come from somewhere else? Every year, The Queen pays £1337.62 in council tax, and that’s just for Buckingham Palace – Windsor comes out as £2365.16 a year, and Balmoral Castle rocks up £2460.78. So, where does this money come from? Although it’s unlikely she uses an electricity business comparison site, the Queen doesn’t need to think about saving money on bills – she has three main sources of income:, the Privy Purse, the Sovereign Grant and her own personal income. Read on to find out more.

The Sovereign Grant

The Sovereign Grant is the money that the Government supplies to the Queen to help her pay for her official duties – this includes the maintenance and bills of the Royal Palaces (Buckingham, St James, Clarence House, Marlborough House, Kensington, Windsor, Hampton Court and Paddocks). The money comes from HM Treasury – this money used to come in the form of the Civil List and Property Services, but now comes in the Sovereign Grant instead. This is monitored by HM Treasury according to the Memorandum of Understanding between the Treasury and the Royal Household, and the amount is published every year in an official report. On 31 March 2019, it amounted to £44.4 million.

The Privy Purse

The Privy Purse is any income that comes from the Duchy of Lancaster – a combination of land, property and assets that is held in trust for the Sovereign, and administered from the Crown Estates. It provides a source of income that is independent from the government (although usually the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a Government minister), and meets any expenses not met by the Sovereign Grant – usually, it covers expenses by the other members of the family rather than the Queen herself, but can be used to contribute to bills – just not as much as the Sovereign Grant. On 31 March 2018, it contributed £20.1 million in net income for the year. It is managed by the Keeper of the Privy Purse, who controls the revenues and meets official and private expenditure by the Queen.

The Queen

For the Queen’s private expenses, she delves into her own personal income. This is money that comes from her personal investment portfolio and private estates such as Balmoral and Sandringham, both of which she inherited. This is not as big as you may think – most of her money does come from the Sovereign Grant, and her wealth will be overestimated as people include income which is not personally the Queen’s – many are held by her as Sovereign, and so are not part of her private property. The majority of any items in the Royal Collection, including the Crown Jewels, as well as any official Royal residences, are not hers – they must be passed on to the next Sovereign.

It’s interesting to think about what life is like for royalty, and the little things you don’t tend to think about, like how they pay their bills. Thinking about how high the bills must get for all of their residences, it’s no wonder they need so much income! What do you think?