The Monarchy In Britain
A brief guide How Much Do They Take From Our Pockets? |  |
Most Expensive Monarchy
The Windsors are the most expensive monarchy in Europe.
The clan gets its huge income from a number of sources. Some of it comes directly from the taxpayers. And some is income from financial and property investments that really belong to the taxpayers. The total cost to the people has been estimated at £200m a year.
"The Monarchy must continue to play a vital role in the affairs of our nation in this new century;
(the Labour Party intends) to support the Chancellor . . . to strike a fair and workable balance between the legitimate needs of the Royal Household and the interests of the taxpayer."
Ed Balls, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, supporting giving the Windsors 15% of so-called Crown Estate income.
The feudal family say that they give back more than they take by "surrendering" to the state the income from the Crown Estate, which they claim to be their private property. The Crown Estate is, in fact, the property of the people of Britain. The Windsors have no more right to it than the Prime Minister has to 10 Downing Street. Yet from 2013 they are to be given 15 per cent of the annual revenue of the Estate in one of the most shameful concessions to hereditary privileges that Britain's parliament has ever made.
From Our Property
Ms. Windsor is given the revenue profits from the 33,000 acre Duchy of Lancaster, £13m in 2012.
Her son Charles is allowed to take the income from the Duchy of Cornwall. The Duchy's land holdings include the 70,000 acres of Dartmoor. In the 2011-12 year the Duchy generated £18m in spending money, of which some went on official duties. In 2007 Mr. Windsor spent £1.16m on travel by plane and train.
These "duchys" are property holdings and investments that members of the Windsor family are allowed to benefit from. Whoever becomes Britain's hereditary head of state also becomes the "Duke of Lancaster". The eldest son of the head of state is automatically the "Duke of Cornwall".
From the Dead
The Windsors even boost their incomes by taking from the dead. When someone dies in Cornwall without leaving a will their estate is taken by the Duchy of Cornwall if they have no surviving relatives entitled to inherit from them. Similarly when a person dies in parts of Lancashire and in other parts of England and Wales that belong to the Duchy of Cornwall, their estate is added to the wealth of that Duchy.
From Our Taxes
What is officially termed "Head of State Expenditure" amounted to £38.2m in 2010. However, this excludes the cost of security for the numerous family members and residences. The cost is kept quiet but has been estimated at £100m by the Republic group.
This "Head of State Expenditure" is divided between the "Civil List", "Parliamentary Annuities
", grants-in-aid and spending for the Windsors by government departments.
"The Windsors are very good at working three days a week, five months of the year and making it look as though they work hard."
Mark Bolland, former Windsor press officer.
The spending is not restricted to hereditary head of state Windsor. Other members of her family are also on the take. Son Charles took £1.96m from the taxes collected from the people of Britain in 2010-11, up from £1.66m in the previous year. This included a 40 per cent increase in spending on a luxury London home and on overseas travel. Windsor's husband Philip takes £395,000, getting on for three times the Prime Minister's salary.
According to press reports her mother, now dead, also lived the high life at the expense of the people. Fifty personal staff, four lavishly furnished homes and a taste for the fanciest of dining out, soon exhausted the £643,000 welfare payment that she received annually from British taxpayers.
The Civil List
In 2010-11 Ms. Windsor spent £13.7m. of the people's money on the considerable running expenses of her household.
Staff - £10.2m
Dining and entertainment - £1.2m
Administration - £1.2m
Housekeeping and furnishings - £0.5m
Ceremonies - £0.4m
Other - £0.2m
Parliamentary Annuities Now that Ms. Windsor's mother is dead the only "annuity" is a £395,000 annual handout to her husband.
Grants in aid
These amounted to £18.4m, broken down into
£11.9m for the upkeep of the numerous family residences
£6m for travel
£500,000 for public relations work.
Spending for the family by government departments
Various government departments contribute around £5m for the administration of the honours or class system, servants, palace maintenance, ceremonies and overseas visits.
Security
Security costs have been estimated at about £100m. The large number of homes and many family members make the cost of police protection much higher than it would be for a democratic president.
Traveling In Style
Transport for the family cost £6m in 2010 - 2011.
Charles Windsor has billed the taxpayers for £970,000 for one year's travel expenses. A single trip to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji cost £292,229.
The head of state's son, Andrew Windsor, has spent more that £560,000 of the people's money on travel in a single year.
To enable the Windsors to get around in style taxpayers fund a 9-car train costing as much as £900,000 a year, and pay as much as £4.8m for helicopters and Air Force and private planes. Thirteen staff are employed to organize their travels and the administrative bill is £300,000. The bills presented to the taxpayers for payment in a recent years have included
£275,000 - Caribbean cruise on a chartered yacht
£18,916 - Charles Windsor to visit a pub Cumbria
£381,813 - Trip by Ms. Windsor to the USA to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the republic's Jamestown settlement
£123,731 - Andrew Windsor 11 days visit to the far east
£700,000 - garden parties
£40,513 - 3-day tour by train for Charles Windsor
£24,870 - two-day visit to Spain by Charles Windsor
£25,829 - train for Charles Windsor to visit the Eden botanical project in Cornwall
£2,565 - family member flying to a golf tournament
£2,938 - flight by Charles Windsor to London for a movie
£1,200 - Philip Windsor to relax at a cricket game.
£1,500 - a visit by Charles Windsor to Wembley Stadium and
£33,000 - for a "prince" to travel the 110 miles from Salisbury to Birmingham.
Palaces
Accommodation for this large family, at almost £11.9m, is a highly expensive part of the bill.
The Windsors are provided with seven homes, 160,000 square meters of land and 1000 staff to look after the properties. Fifteen craftspeople are employed just to care for the furniture.
In June 2000 a report by the National Audit Office revealed the following costs:
£19,000 for new wardrobes
£650,000 for repairs to a palace exterior
£218,000 for redecoration of castle living room
£135,000 to replace a palace lift.
£500,000 for palace furniture and equipment.
Other items charged to the taxpayers have included £150,000 for new silk walls and gold gilding in one of the palaces and £300,000 for double glazing and sash windows at the Windsor's castle in borough of Windsor
The costs to tax payers were even higher than they needed to be because major maintenance work must be scheduled so that it does not disturb queen Windsor.
Public Relations
The cost of justifying these feudal privileges is also carried by the taxpayers. The family have increased their spending of the people's money on public relations to £0.5m a year, as they recognise the need to work harder to keep their confidence trick going. They have developed their Web site at the people's expense in a partisan effort to persuade children that the feudal institution is defencible.
Accountability
In 1998 were the accounts for the massive expenditure on transport and accommodation opened for parliamentary inspection.
But the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons and the National Audit Office are stilled forbidden from looking at how the family spend the money the taxpayers provide for the Civil List. Instead, in June of 2002, the Windsor family published their own annual civil list accounts for the first time, for information only.
And every ten years there has been a review of the Civil List payments by the Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Windsor’s head of finance. Such infrequency was said to be necessary for the "honour and dignity of the Crown" to be upheld.
The family is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act as, despite the tax funding they receive and the privileged part they have in the government of the nation, they are not considered to be a "public authority".
Equal Opportunities
The hereditary head of state's annual accounts tell us that "the Royal Household is committed to Equal Opportunities and all appointments and promotions are on merit."
 The Crown Estate Belongs to the People
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