Revealed: King Charles’s private fortune estimated at £1.8bn
King Charles III has inherited assets that have propelled his wealth to almost £2bn, according to extensive research and analysis by the Guardian.
The monarch’s personal fortune is largely concealed from public scrutiny and it is impossible to know the complete value of his estate.
However, the Guardian has conducted the first comprehensive audit of the king’s assets, from country piles and diamond-encrusted jewels, to paintings by Monet and Dalí, Rolls-Royces, racehorses and rare stamps.
The research throws into sharp relief the Windsor family’s most valuable financial asset: total immunity from inheritance tax. It has probablyallowed Charles to receive his mother’s wealth free of any contribution to the public purse.
In a statement the king’s spokesperson said: “While we do not comment on private finances, your figures are a highly creative mix of speculation, assumption and inaccuracy.”
Buckingham Palace declined to offer alternative figures; it has a policy of refusing to comment on the personal finances of royals, insisting they should “remain private, as they do for any other individual”.
Cost of the crown is an investigation into royal wealth and finances. The series, published ahead of the coronation of King Charles III, is seeking to overcome centuries of secrecy to better understand how the royal family is funded, the extent to which individual members have profited from their public roles, and the dubious origins of some of their wealth. The Guardian believes it is in the public interest to clarify what can legitimately be called private wealth, what belongs to the British people, and what, as so often is the case, straddles the two.
• Read more about the investigation
• Fund Guardian investigative journalism that
Read more on theguardian.com
