What was Queen Elizabeth of England's net worth?
Queen Elizabeth II was the constitutional monarch of sixteen realms of the 53-member Commonwealth of Nations and the Head of the Commonwealth and Supreme Governor of the Church of England. At the time of her death, Queen Elizabeth II of England had a net worth of $600 million.
Queen Elizabeth II reigned over the 16 nations that make up the Commonwealth of Realms, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. She was also the head of the Church of England.
Queen Elizabeth died on September 8, 2022, at the age of 96. At the time of her death, she was the longest-serving monarch in British history. She died at her castle, Balmoral, surrounded by family, including her son Charles, who instantly became King Charles.
Early Life
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born in London, United Kingdom, in April 1926. Her parents were Prince Albert, Duke of York, and Elizabeth, Duchess of York. During the Second World War, she served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. She married Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark in 1947. They would go on to have four children, including Prince Charles, who would eventually be her heir-apparent to the throne.
When she was born, her grandfather, George the V, was King, and her uncle was in-line to inherit the throne. Upon her grandfather's death, her uncle became King Edward VIII. In 1936, just 11 months after ascending to the throne, Edward abdicated so he could marry his American wife, Wallis Simpson. When Edward abdicated, the crown passed to his younger brother, Albert Frederick Arthur George – Elizabeth's father. He became George VI and reined from 1936 until his death in February 1952.
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Ascension
As the eldest child in her family, Elizabeth ascended to the throne in 1952 upon the passing of her father. As such, she became queen regnant of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Ceylon. Her coronation was the first in history to be televised. She was also technically the Queen of Jamaica, Barbados, The Bahamas, Grenada, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Tuvalu, Antigua and Barbuda, Nevis, and Saint Kitts. She was a constitutional monarch and rarely granted interviews.
Elizabeth was the longest-serving British monarch in history and one of the longest-serving monarchs ever. Her son Charles became King upon her death in September 2022. After Charles ascended, his eldest son, William, became Prince of Wales – the designation reserved for the heir to the throne.
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Personal Life
As we mentioned previously, Elizabeth was married to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, from 1947 until his death in 2021. After Charles, they had three children: Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward. During their lifetimes, they had eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Elizabeth was the patron of more than 600 charities and organizations. She famously owned Pembroke Welsh Corgis for most of her life.
Wealth Details
Contrary to popular belief, Queen Elizabeth was not even close to being the wealthiest woman in the world. Technically, she was not even a billionaire. At her peak, Queen Elizabeth's net worth was $600 million.
Elizabeth's assets were split into two categories:
1) Assets directly owned by her personally
and
2) Assets by a body called the Crown Estate.
Real Estate/Assets/Castles
Queen Elizabeth did not own most of her many palaces and assets. The Crown does. This includes the Crown Jewels, which contains more than 140 individual pieces that are considered priceless. These are considered national treasures and part of the royal collection. The monarch is allowed to possess and use them during their reign. The royal collection includes paintings, furniture, tapestries, photographs, and other items that are spread out amongst the royal residences. Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle are also held in trust. They are there for the use of the reigning monarch but cannot be sold by them.
Queen Elizabeth personally owned Balmoral Castle in Scotland and the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England. She inherited these properties from her father. She personally owned a valuable stock portfolio, several works of art, and even a stamp collection.
The Queen's official London residence was Buckingham Palace. Buckingham Palace is valued at around $5 billion and retains the original early 19th-century interior designs. Buckingham Palace remains a symbol and home of the British monarchy and serves as an art gallery and tourist attraction. For quick weekend getaways she also had access to Windsor Castle, worth $574 million.
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The Crown Estate
The Crown Estate is essentially a real estate portfolio that is not owned by either Elizabeth or the government. If she did own the Crown Estate personally, Queen Elizabeth's net worth would easily top $25 billion which would have made her one of the richest people in the world. And while she may not have owned the Crown Estate, she did profit from its income. In a given year, the Crown Estate produced around $18 million in income annually for Elizabeth. Another real estate portfolio, called the Duchy of Lancaster, produced an income of $27 million per year. Through an entity called the Sovereign Grant, Elizabeth took 25% of the income produced by the Crown Estate to pay for her family's expenses, such as travel, housekeeping, and IT costs.
Furthermore, Elizabeth possessed – but did not own – the Royal Collection Trust. The Royal Collection Trust holds the Royal family's art and other priceless works. The trust owns over 1 million objects, most notably 7,000 paintings by artists including Rembrandt and Leonardo da Vinci. The Royal Collection Trust's collection is easily worth at least $1 billion.
