How Much Money Does King Charles III Make? You Might Be Surprised

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As the reigning British monarch, King Charles has access to billions in wealth. But how much is actually his? Here are the estimates. 

It’s easy to look at the U.K.’s royal family and see nothing but obscene wealth. After all, one of the most common ways to say someone is rich is to proclaim that they have, “more money than the King (or, until recently, Queen) of England.”

In the scope of worldwide fortunes, however, the royal family isn’t quite as well-off as you might suspect. Don’t get me wrong, King Charles is most definitely not struggling with his personal finances — or likely even thinking about them at all.

But while the King can happily swim in his coffers — a la Scrooge McDuck — he has but a small fraction of the wealth of the Buffetts and Musks of the world.

Estimated private net worth: 1.8 billion pounds ($2.25 billion)

As the reigning British monarch, King Charles oversees a massive 37 million pounds ($46 million) portfolio of assets. But a surprisingly small percentage of that fortune is actually his. However, the exact nature and extent of the King’s personal wealth is hard to estimate because much of it is kept secret.

In the wake of the coronation, many sources have tried to tackle the challenge. Perhaps the most thorough is a report from the Guardian, which claims to have conducted “the first comprehensive audit of the king’s assets.” The newspaper estimates Charles has a private net worth of around 1.8 billion pounds, or roughly $2.25 billion.

The royal fortune is made up of all the trappings one might expect the uber wealthy to have, including 330 million pounds ($413 million) worth of real estate in England and Scotland. While most of the castles in which he may reside aren’t technically owned by the King himself, he inherited two extremely valuable estates from the late Queen: Balmoral and Sandringham. The latter estate is estimated to be worth 250 million pounds ($312 million) alone.

All together, Forbes estimates King Charles inherited around $500 million in assets from the Queen. And thanks to the savvy of that same Queen, Charles won’t have to pay so much as a penny in inheritance taxes on the lot of it.

Estimated annual income: 127 million pounds ($138.4 million)

In addition to the vast fortune already at his disposal, the new King also has quite a good deal of income from his extensive assets. At the same time, the King — and the royal family as a whole — have a lot of expenses.

According to Forbes, the bulk of the annual income for the royal family comes from the Crown Estate, a massive 20.7 billion pounds ($19 billion) real estate portfolio. The vast majority of the profits from the Crown Estate go to the British Treasury — income Forbes says totaled $361 million in 2022. But 25% of that profit — known as the Sovereign Grant — goes to the royal family.

Of course, Charles can’t squander that profit all on his own. A 10% cut ($43.3 million in 2022) of that profit maintains Buckingham Palace. And the remaining 15% covers the bills for the whole royal family, including travel costs and formal events.

The King’s other public source of income is the Duchy of Lancaster, a private estate which provides the King’s personal allowance called the Privy Purse. This income — which Forbes says amounted to $30 million in 2022 — covers any other official expenditures.

Anything that’s left of the Privy Purse once the official bills are paid belongs to Charles. But, thanks to an agreement with the British government made in 1993, the King actually has to pay income taxes on any portion of the Privy Purse not used for “official purposes.”

A castle is a castle by any other name

Although most of the wealth King Charles oversees isn’t actually his, the new King’s bank accounts still spilleth over to the tune of over $2 billion. While this puts him well below some of the world’s wealthiest billionaires, it’s safe to say the man can probably buy just about anything he likes. It’s good to be King.

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The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.Brittney Myers has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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