Team News Riveting
The closure of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle to tourists and a predicted fall in tourism over future years following COVID-19 could shave £15 million (about Rs 141 crore) off the supplementary income over the next three years.
The overall impact of COVID-19 on royal finances might leave the Buckingham Palace renovation £20 million short.
The Queen usually receives an annual payment of about £85 million ($154 million) to help cover the cost of travel, hospitality, staff and building maintenance under an agreement struck with the government in 2012.
However a deep recession is forecast to hit the Crown Estate, a vast commercial property empire owned by the monarchy and managed independently as the primary source of income for the royal family’s yearly cheque.
The Queen’s annual payment is worth 25 per cent of the Crown Estate’s profits. The other 75 per cent goes to the Treasury. The estate made a record profit of £345 million in the financial year before COVID-19 struck.
The property portfolio — which spans farmland, seabeds and some of central London’s most valuable buildings including the grand retail precinct of Regent Street — will be affected by the economic downturn. Rental receipts are down amid a major retail slump and the recession could also cause the £13.4 billion Empire to lose value.
Those taking care of the Crown Estate said in responding to these challenges, they had no intention of asking for extra funding from the government but would look to manage the impact through their own efforts and efficiencies.
