Thread by @FullFact

You may have seen that £2.4 million from the Sovereign Grant was used to pay for renovations of Frogmore Cottage, the home of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

This is how royal finances work (a thread) 👑

fullfact.org/economy/royal-…

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The Queen receives three forms of income.

One is income from her private investments. These investments are owned by the Queen personally.

For example the Queen owns the Royal Stud at Sandringham which makes money which she pays tax on.

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The second is income from the Duchy of Lancaster. The Duchy contains land, property and assets which make money from things like rent. The portfolio is held in trust and passed from Sovereign to Sovereign (so the Queen can't just decide to sell it all).

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The third is the Sovereign Grant.

The Queen owns something called the Crown Estate. Profits from the estate go to the Treasury which returns 25% of these profits to the Queen.

This 25% is the Sovereign Grant, as shown in this BBC infographic ⬇️
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-446352…

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The Queen's private income is used for personal spending like the upkeep of non-official residences such as Balmoral.

The Sovereign Grant is used for official expenditure like official travel.

Duchy of Lancaster income is used for both official and private spending.

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Frogmore has been an official residence since 1792. That means its renovations were paid for out of the Sovereign Grant.

This is controversial because some argue this is taxpayer money. In reality it's not that simple.

royal.uk/houses-frogmore

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Read more about royal finances here: fullfact.org/economy/royal-…

[7/7] #Meghan #RoyalFamily