King Charles III will not have to pay tax on the vast wealth of assets he has inherited upon his ascension to the throne following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
King Charles inherited the majority of his late mother's vast fortune - estimated to be worth at least £436million - but will avoid paying tax on it thanks to a 30-year-old clause agreed by then Prime Minister John Major in 1993.
The exact amount the Queen's eldest son will inherit is unknown, as due to an update of British law during the 1970s this will not be disclosed to the public.
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That agreement with the British government also exempts transfers of property from one sovereign to another from inheritance tax. Usually, assets worth more than £325,000 are taxed at 40% when inherited by an individual in the UK but King Charles won't have to pay up.
The reason for this is that while King Charles has inherited these vast assets, he cannot sell them and therefore cannot profit from them. Government says it would be "inappropriate" for tax to be sought in respect of such assets.
Further to that, income tax is optionally for the new king but it is widely expected he will pay a portion of his income into state coffers as his mother did from 1993. Her decision to pay income tax came after media scrutiny on who would fork out to pay for the repairs to Windsor Castle after it was damaged in the early 90s.
King Charles isn't the only royal who has inherited a vast amount of wealth following the Queen's death, as Prince William has inherited a £23 million-a-year income as the new Duke of Cornwall, taking over the role from his father.
His new annual income is generated by the Duchy’s giant portfolio of buildings, land and other financial investments, and is set to cover the royal’s public and private life.
He too is not compelled to pay income tax but may well follow his father and grandmother's lead on that as Charles similarly paid income tax when he was Prince of Wales.
Huge wealth
The Royal Family as a whole is estimated to be worth around £24bn, which is split between four categories.
The Crown Estate, which includes a collection of properties, is the most valuable official holding, as it's said to be worth £16.7bn.
The Duchy of Cornwall is worth an estimated £1.2bn and is set to be passed on to the new Prince of Wales, Prince William, 40.
The Duchy owns The Oval in south London, as well as farmland in southern England, offices in London, holiday homes rentals and a supermarket depot. The real estate portfolio generates millions in revenue each year, as it spans 130,000 acres.
The Duchy of Lancaster is worth just under £1bn and is owned by whoever is the current reigning monarch. In fourth place is the Royals' private wealth, which remains a mystery to the public.
Queen's Funeral costs
The Queen's funeral on Monday, September 19, will be a huge affair with world leaders and the extended royal family attending at Westminster Abbey. The bill for the funeral will be paid by British taxpayers after the House of Commons confirmed it would be paid for "by the state."
The funeral may be the largest ever held in the UK and is thought to have been planned over many years at an exceptional cost.
In recent days, figures between £6 to £8 million have been discussed and although the event is set to be a large one nothing has been confirmed as of yet.
Looking back at the cost of other large royal funerals could provide a benchmark. The last state funeral to take place in the UK was Winston Churchill’s in 1965 and in today’s money it would have cost £1million . In 2002, the Queen Mother's funeral reportedly cost £5.4m.
A royal expert told the Big Issue the Queen’s funeral will certainly cost at least that sum – and “probably a fair bit more” than that.
Elizabeth Norton, a royal historian specialising in the queens of England, said: “It is really difficult to give an estimate for the Queen’s funeral. No British monarch has died for 70 years and the monarch’s funeral always tends to be on a considerably larger scale than funerals for other members of the royal family.
“Prince Philip’s funeral was obviously fairly simple, due to Covid, but the funeral of the Queen Mother in 2002 reportedly cost around £5.4m. A large portion of that sum was in relation to policing, while the lying in state was also expensive.
“Although it is impossible to say exactly what the Queen’s funeral will cost, it will certainly be at least that sum and probably a fair bit more.”
Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997 reportedly cost between £4 and £5 million, according to estimates from civil servants at the time, as reported in an article in the Times . In today’s money, that’s the equivalent of roughly £7-8 million.
The day is also a Bank Holiday meaning that this will add up with costs too and it was estimated that the Platinum Jubilee cost the economy around £2.4 billion.
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