Her Majesty's Money: Queen Leaves Behind Billion-Dollar Buckingham Palace & Royal Collection — Her Assets REVEALED
Sept. 10 2022, Published 5:00 a.m. ET
Considering that even a few of Queen Elizabeth's favorite things are together worth about $21 billion, you'd think the late monarch's fortune would be up there with the likes of a Gates or Kardashian.
However, RadarOnline.com can confirm the kingdom actually owns some of those incredible treasures.
Before her death on Thursday, her impressive personal portfolio included everything from fine art and jewelry to horse and fruit farms to castles and country manors, as well as the stamps in the Royal Philatelic Collection and blue chip British stocks.
And on top of a parliamentary annuity, she also got a percentage of the annual income generated by the vast real estate holdings in Britain's Crown Estate — nearly $100 million in 2017. Yet all told, her fortune was estimated at just $520 million.
So, how does it divvy up?
Buckingham Palace has a value of roughly $5 billion.
The queen's 828,820-square-foot-775-room London home has been the main royal residence since her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria settled there in 1837, but she was not the owner of the property.
As for Balmoral Castle, it's worth around $140 million.
Elizabeth's beloved holiday home in the Scottish Highlands was bought by Prince Albert in 1852 and covers some 50,000 acres, including grouse moors forests and farmland. A working estate with managed herds of deer, Highland cattle, and ponies, it's open to the public several months a year. So, did Her Majesty have the deed? Indeed!
When it comes to the royal collection, it's said to value around a staggering $13 billion.
Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences across Britain, this is the largest private art collection in the world.
It has more than one million objects, including 7,000 paintings and 30,000 watercolors and drawings, as well as manuscripts, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, cars, and carriages. Some pieces, including a $13 million Monet painting, belonged to the longest-reigning British monarch, but most of the artwork is held in trust for the nation, RadarOnline.com can confirm.
What about Windsor Castle? The largest and longest-occupied palace in Europe values around $236 million and has been used by the royal family since the time of Henry I in the 12th century.
Inside the castle walls in St. George's Chapel, the 15th-century Gothic church where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle exchanged vows. Repairs after a devastating fire in 1992 cost $48 million — which wasn't covered by insurance. But since Elizabeth didn't own the property, she didn't have to foot the bill.
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Sandringham Estate is worth $65 million and has been the private residence of four generations of British monarchs, including Elizabeth's late father, King George VI. In 1957, the young queen made her first-ever Christmas broadcast to the nation from Sandringham — which, yes, was part of Her Majesty's portfolio.
Hillsborough Castle, on the other hand, was not. The late queen opened the doors of the 18th-century Georgian mansion to President George W. Bush during his 2003 visit.
The Crown Jewels, valued around $3 billion, belong to the nation. Dating back some 400 years, this jaw-dropping collection consists of 140 ceremonial treasures that have been worn by British kings and queens at their coronations. All in all, the collection contains 23,578 precious and semiprecious stones.
As for the Holyroodhouse Palace valued at $100 million, that was not her personally owned property although she often spent a week at the start of her summers at the 10-acre residence in Edinburgh, which was built in the 1670s.
The naked ghost of midwife, healer, and purported witch Agnes "Bald Agnes" Sampson, who was stripped and tortured there in 1592, is said to wander the corridors.