The Queen’s annual income from her private Duchy of Lancaster estate has risen to £16m – an increase of 18%, or £2.4m, on 2014, accounts show.
It is one of several sources of income for the monarchy, with profits from the 18,433 hectares (45,500 acres) across England and Wales going to the Queen’s privy purse. With an asset value of £472m, the duchy portfolio includes office, retail and industrial properties as well as historic buildings including 10 castles.
The Queen is said to use some of the money to fund members of the royal family including the offices of the Princess Royal, Duke of York and Earl and Countess of Wessex.
It was the best performing year for the estate, which has provided a private income for the sovereign since 1399. The Crown Lands Act 1702 decreed the monarchy receive only the income and not the capital from the duchy.
The estate is not subject to corporation tax, but the Queen voluntarily pays tax on the income she receives from it, though no figures are given.
Buckingham Palace’s official accounts published in June showed the Queen is also set for a 6.7% rise in funds from the sovereign grant next year, which will see her receive £42.7m in 2016-17 for her official expenditure as head of state.
Royal trustees – the prime minister, chancellor and the Queen’s keeper of the privy purse – will review the sovereign grant in 2016, which is now set at 15% of the profits of the Crown Estate property empire, from which the annual surplus has gone to the Treasury since 1760.
