British Royal Family

The British Royal Family is a group of people closely related to the British monarch. Although there is no strict legal definition of who is or is not a member of the Royal Family http://www.heraldica.org/faqs/britfaq.html#p2-2, and different lists will include different people, those carrying the style His or Her Majesty (HM) or His or Her Royal Highness (HRH) are generally accepted as being members. Usually this equates to the following people being considered to be a member:

Parliamentary Annuities

Only some members of the Royal Family carry out public duties; these individuals receive an annual payment known as a Parliamentary Annuity.

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• HRH The Duke of Edinburgh £359,000
• HRH The Duke of York £249,000
• TRH The Duke and Duchess of Kent £236,000
• HRH The Princess Royal £228,000
• HRH Princess Alexandra £225,000
• TRH The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester £175,000
• HRH The Earl of Wessex £141,000

The Queen agreed to pay taxes on income and capital gains from 1993; at the same time it was announced that only the Queen, Prince Philip, and the Queen Mother would receive civil list payments in the future.

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However, civil list payments to the other royals were not abolished. Instead payments to them continued and the Queen pays an equivalent sum back to the Treasury. This was thought to be a technical arrangement to cover administrative and legal difficulties of stopping the payments. But the Queen saves about £536,000 a year in income tax by setting off the money she pays back to the Treasury against her own tax bill.

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It is often wondered how much money the British Royal Family does have. This will probably never be known, but HM The Queen does own a company called The Crown Estates Ltd. This firm's annual profits are over £160 million. The money is given back to HM Treasury by The Queen for the British Government to spend on public services. This equates to her giving back £5 for every £1 the British public invest in her.

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