We already know that the wealthy in the United States are getting richer as the middle class slips down, and the lower classes are increasingly marginalized. We know our average buying power has been eroding for over a decade even as 1% of the population has increased their stake in America’s wealth to 42% and top CEOs have increased their multiple over average employee salaries into the hundreds. But what about Jolly Olde England, where a probable future king has just been born? There sits an ancient and revered monarchy, wealthy beyond imagination, in a nation that, for the most part, likes that concept, worships the royal family and follows their lives into personal nooks and crannies. What’s the rest of the country like, keeping in mind that £1 = about $1.55?
Well, according to a recent book (Wealth in the UK: distribution, accumulation, and policy by John Hills, Francesca Bastagli, Frank Cowell, Howard Glennerster, Eleni Karagiannaki, and Abigail McKnight Oxford University Press, April 25, 2013) presented by the London School of Economics and Political Science, the patterns of economic polarization aren’t any better over there: “Personal wealth in the UK totaled £5.5 trillion by 2010 (£9-10 trillion if occupational pension rights are included). Inheritance flows are now equivalent to 4 per cent of national income each year. All households in the wealthiest tenth have more than 75 times the wealth of any of those in the bottom tenth. Absolute differences in wealth levels have increased substantially over the last 15 years, so wealth differences represent many more years of income than in the past. This makes them of great importance to life chances.”
In this statistic, buried deep within, are the numbers that define the British monarchy, billionaires with a pretty expensive and expansive lifestyle, public scrutiny notwithstanding. Wikipedia puts some parameters around these numbers: “The Sovereign Grant Annual Report states that net expenditure[for the royal family] for 2012-13 was £33.3 million… The Sovereign Grant funding system, which covers the royal costs, has been set at £36.1 million for the 2013-14 financial year.
Until 1760 the monarch met all official expenses from hereditary revenues, which included the profits of the Crown Estate(the royal property portfolio). King George III agreed to surrender the hereditary revenues of the Crown in return for the Civil List, and this arrangement persists. The Crown Estate is one of the largest property owners in the United Kingdom, with holdings of £7.3 billion in 2011. It is held in trust, and cannot be sold or owned by the Sovereign in a private capacity. In modern times, the profits surrendered from the Crown Estate have exceeded the Civil List and Grants-in-Aid. For example, the Crown Estate produced £200 million for the Treasury in the financial year 2007–8, whereas reported parliamentary funding for the monarch was £40 million during the same period.”
A 2012 study, following the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee (60 years of reign), adds some color to the above: “The fact that the combined wealth of the top 14 members only reached $1 billion reflects what has been suspected for some time: that new wealth is overtaking old wealth in Britain. Mykolas D. Rambus, CEO of Wealth-X told said… The study also found that Prince Andrew, who is fourth in line of succession to the throne, has a net worth of $75 million. Followed by Prince Edward, who has $45 million and Princess Anne who has $30 million. [In 2011], the Queen agreed to freeze her annual 'salary' until at least 2015. The austerity measures came off the back of the economic downturn… [2012] is the sixth consecutive year the queen would have received a cut in her income, the Daily Mail reported. She will now receive £30m year, a stark contrast to the £77.3m she received between 1991-1992.
“In December [2011], Chancellor George Osborne announced that the Queen's salary, funded by tax payer's money, will be frozen until April 2013. He explained that she would receive £30m annually with an additional 1m to fund the cost of the diamond jubilee… Royal funding for travel and other expenses in the palace will no longer come from the pockets of tax payers; instead profits from the Crown Estate will be the main source of royal expenditure, according to the Daily Mail.” International Business Times, June 7, 2012. I wanna be king! I’ll even take some more cutbacks and won’t complain!
I’m Peter Dekom, and I thought you just might be curious.
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