Ever since Prince William was promoted to Duke of Cornwall following his father’s ascension to the throne, he’s been raking in the pounds. If you didn’t know, because why would you, we did a whole war to not be controlled by these people, Wills earns income from the “Duchy of Cornwall estate,” which is a fancy way of saying the territory owned by whoever is Duke of Cornwall. If kings have kingdoms, dukes have duchies.
Anyway, he made $30 million. According to People, the Duchy of Cornwall’s Integrated Annual Report was just published for the 2023-2024 financial year, William’s first full year overseeing the territory, which includes 130,000 acres across 23 counties in England and Wales with farms, houses and other assets. It’s worth over a billion dollars total, but the “distributable surplus” is what William and his family get to live on. He gets to deduct his household expenses and then he has to pay income taxes, which seems fair-ish.
LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 15: Prince George of Wales, Prince William, Prince of Wales, Prince Louis of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales during Trooping the Colour on June 15, 2024 in London, England. Trooping the Colour is a ceremonial parade celebrating the official birthday of the British Monarch. The event features over 1,400 soldiers and officers, accompanied by 200 horses. More than 400 musicians from ten different bands and Corps of Drums march and perform in perfect harmony. (Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage)Samir Hussein
If all this seems kind of arcane and like I don’t understand it, well, it’s an estate that was established by King Edward III in 1337, so like, why would we get it? The point is, Prince William has lots of money and is, apparently, good at being Duke of Cornwall. Because if he were bad at it, the duchy would lose money, right? Or is that not…I grew up in California, okay? I can’t be expected to understand how Britain works. I barely know the metric system and they drive on the other side of the road, it’s crazy over there.
William isn’t the only royal getting a raise. According to NBC News, the Sovereign Grant, which is the “mechanism used to fund royal spending,” per the outlet, will increase by nearly $60 million in the 2024-25 fiscal year—happy news for King Charles, I’m sure. This bump is attributed to a surge in profits from the Crown Estate, which does not include the Duchy of Cornwall, but is made up of other properties across the UK.
The Sovereign Grant, which is also funded in part by taxpayers, is used to support the duties of the monarch, like travel, staff, and maintenance of inhabited palaces.
