Anti-monarchists have been corrected after claiming the crown estate has a “portfolio of properties worth £15.6billion”. Howard Beckett, a trade unionist, shared his frustration at the cost of the Coronation and slammed the number of properties owned by the Crown Estate. He tweeted: “The crown estate owns a portfolio of properties worth £15.6bn, including 241 in central London. The red dots mark the properties. In seven days time we’ll put a crown on the head of Charles III. It will cost us £100ml for the privilege. What century is this again? Remind me please.”
But Daily Express royal expert Richard Palmer has said there is a “huge misunderstanding” over who receives the profit from these properties.
He replied: “There’s a huge misunderstanding over this: the Crown Estate is owned by the King in name only and makes money for the UK government. All profits (not 75%) go to the Treasury. You just have to see Crown as State. Similarly, compare our coronation to a US presidential inauguration.”
The crown estate generates money for the Treasury and the royal family, continually increasing their portfolio of properties.
The business currently own 241 properties in central London.
The crown estate announced on Thursday that it had signed lease agreements for six offshore projects that will provide £1billion in revenue and have the potential to power seven million homes.
Buckingham Palace has described the money generated from the new leases as a “windfall”.
The king’s keeper of the privy purse, Sir Michael Stevens, has asked the government for “an appropriate reduction” in the percentage of crown estate profits used for the sovereign grant. The exact amount has not been declared.
The Telegraph reported that King Charles receives 25 percent of the crown estate’s annual surplus, including an extra 10 percent for the refurbishment of Buckingham Palace.
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Revenue from the crown estate is worth more than £312million a year.
Some of the homes owned by the crown estate include properties in St James’s and Regent Street, as well as farmland, offices and retail parks across the UK.
It is also responsible for managing the Windsor estate, which includes parkland and ancient woodland, and Ascot racecourse.
