Royal finances - our money is theirs and vice versa

The British royal family needs the good news to keep coming

Some British taxpayers are narked off by reports the Queen will help her son pay millions of pounds to a woman who accused him of sexual assault. “It’s our money,” the wail goes up.

This is a common refrain, especially when a member of the British royal family does something dreadful. “Why should we pay for that lot?” the more republican-minded ask each other, looking up from their copy of ‘The Guardian’.

Fair question, except that it’s not strictly true that we’re paying for them all. The truth is the Queen’s money is not wholly ours — but nor is it wholly hers. The structure of a hereditary monarchy going back hundreds of years means the royal family has, by accretion, built up a massive portfolio of property, artworks, jewellery and suchlike. Most of these things are unique and therefore priceless, so their value cannot be assessed and the real worth of the Queen or the royal family can never really be known.

Second, the royal…