Lifestyle

Queen Elizabeth has way less in the bank than you’d expect

Thanks to “The Crown,” “Debretts” and Fergie’s propensity to overshare after several glasses of chablis, we now know a lot about Queen Elizabeth II. We know she loves the Racing Post, gin martinis and keeps cereal in Tupperware containers. But here’s one thing that doesn’t come up too often in Windsor family news: She’s not actually that rich, well, when it comes to the regal stakes.

The Sunday Times reports that as of 2018, the Queen is worth about $480 million dollars, which is nothing to be sniffed at. After all, she has four adult children who don’t have actual, paying jobs and various grandchildren (and great-grandchildren) who are all regularly in dire need of new fascinators, polo ponies and skiing trips to Verbier, Switzerland. However, in contrast to the other reigning monarchs around the world, Liz is comparatively poor. She doesn’t even make the list of the top 10 richest royals in the world — they all have fortunes that start with a B, not a paltry M.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn of Thailand is worth a gobsmacking $29 billion. (He is also the only King who A. goes out in public in a crop top with fake tattoos, B. made his poodle the chief of the air force and C. married an air hostess.)

The Sultan of Brunei comes in at No. 2 with a $22 billion fortune, while Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud takes the third spot courtesy of his $17 billion bank account.

The highest placed European monarch is Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein who has $5 billion squirreled away, thanks in part to the fact he owns a bank, while Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg is eighth on the list, thanks to his $4 billion fortune. Rounding out the top ten list is none other than reformed playboy Prince Albert of Monaco, who is worth a cool $960 million.

However, it’s not quite time to start a GoFundMe page for the Queen. She gets about $126 million a year from the British Government (tax-free) for upkeep for her various castles and palaces and to pay for her approximately 420 staff members.

Queen Elizabeth II
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The 92-year-old’s country house, Sandringham and her beloved Balmoral Castle in Scotland are privately held by the monarch and are worth about $81 million combined. She also has vast real estate holdings, such as most of London’s famous Regent Street and has made a lot of money out of wind farms. In fact, last year’s Paradise Papers leak revealed that about $13 million from the Queen’s private fortune had been invested in the Cayman Islands, an offshore tax haven. (Though there is no suggestion there is anything illegal about this arrangement.)

All of which is distinct from what the Crown actually owns. The institution of the British monarchy owns about $17 billion property across the UK, including 236,000-acres of farmland, all the fishing rights in Scotland and Ascot Racecourse and all the whales and sturgeons in UK waters (weird, we know).

Despite her relatively unimpressive personal coffers, the Queen is not about to run out of cash any time too soon. The nonagenarian is notoriously frugal when it comes to money. Last year she was photographed using a $37 heater in a vast stately room, rather than splashing out on using the fireplace. It has been reported that she insists that holes in the wallpaper at Buckingham Palace be patched using wallpaper bought by Queen Victoria more than a century ago because she reportedly does not want to let it go to waste. She is also said to save ribbon and wrapping paper after Christmas and is happy to catch the regular train to and from her Sandringham home. In fact, the only day of the week she carries cash is Sundays, when her butler folds up a five-pound note (with only her own face showing) for her to put in the collection plate at church.

Maybe the other kings and queens around the world should take note of her stingy ways — she might not be as cashed up as her other crown-wearing compatriots but she is the longest reigning British monarch in history.