The Queen is one of the richest ladies in England, worth over £7 billion (pounds) from the property she owns.
Yet, due to an Act of Parliament from the 1700s, she gives it all away. Over £200 million every year, in fact, this year it was £230 million.
In return she receives about £40 million, most of which she returns to the State for official functions to include paying staff salaries, maintaining estates, and hosting around 50,000 people every year.
All in all, it means that she donates £2 and 60 pence to every person in the UK.
A pretty cool deal, which makes it all the more strange that most think she is a freeloader. I think the common perception is that she is broke, borrowing money, and wasting taxpayer dollars.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. She even opted to pay taxes on this stipend in 1992.
Can you imagine giving away hundreds of millions of dollars to only get 20% back, and then offer to give even more back through taxes?
You can read the full story on this here, check out the property she owns which makes her so wealthy, or learn about her various stipends.
It helps to remember that back in the day, the king was typically the richest person in the kingdom. Money was the source of his power and required to rule. In fact, the most problematic kings in history were the poor ones, relying on others, in debt, and forced into awkward/bad situations…
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