What Is King Charles III’s Net Worth? All About The Royal’s Wealth


Get your quiches ready.

King Charles III’s coronation is tomorrow, May 6, 2023—and festivities abound. If you’re in the U.S., you’re sadly going to have to set your alarms incredibly early for a Saturday morning: The ceremony begins at the ungodly hour of 6 a.m. EST. (But for all you royal family fans, the occasion’s buzz will be enough to get you out of bed.) In case it wasn’t obvious, the coronation marks the moment King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla formally take over the throne from Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away in September 2022.

As the new king officially comes into the crown, you may be wondering if the new gig comes with a pay bump (it does). After all, the royal family is worth incomprehensible amounts of money. And as the head of the monarchy, the king is objectively the wealthiest of the bunch. Here’s everything to know about King Charles’ net worth, from The Crown Jewels to his Rolls-Royce fleet.

He owns at least 11 palaces.

You can’t be royal without a palace, or 11, right? King Charles owns at least 11 properties, including palaces, castles, and other residences that are under jurisdiction of The Crown. As you might have already guessed, one of the king’s most expensive properties is Buckingham Palace which is worth an estimated $4.9 billion, according to Forbes.

Charles also owns Clarence House, Balmoral, and Sandringham. His total property assets amount to around $10.1 billion, per Forbes.

buckingham palace at dusk

Buckingham Palace.

Jorg Greuel//Getty Images

He’s the current owner of The Crown Jewels

It’s impossible to know how much The Crown Jewels are actually worth, but they’re obviously a huge asset. The jewels’ worth is not annually reviewed, but they were estimated at $4 billion in 2019, per Forbes.

Charles can’t really do anything with the jewels (so don’t expect them listed on eBay any time soon), but they’re technically his throughout the duration of his reign. He also owns around $674 million worth of privately owned jewels, per The Guardian.

the crown jewels

The Crown Jewels, captured in 1953.

Print Collector//Getty Images

He owns many other finer things.

The King of England inherited many random, and very expensive trinkets when he ascended the throne. The Queen’s personal assets included a vast collection of cars, including a Rolls-Royce fleet (which, according to The Guardian, could be worth around $1.6 million), a collection of “the finest and most comprehensive” Commonwealth stamps, an original Claude Monet painting, Study of Rocks: Creuse (valued at $17.3 million), and, possibly, around $2.2 million worth of other fine art, per Forbes.

Of course, Charles wasn’t strapped for finer things of his own, either. The king owns an 18-carat gold Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Chronograph watch, which is valued at at least $8,125. According to Forbes, Charles owns around $500 million in personal assets.

royal wedding cars and carriages prepared

One of the royal family’s Rolls-Royces. It’s unclear how many of their vehicles are privately owned, owned by the sovereign of the crown, or loaned by manufacturers, per The Guardian.

WPA Pool//Getty Images

He is now the prime owner of The Crown Estate.

Cath Kidston Coronation King & Queen Royal Stafford Boxed Mug Set

Coronation King & Queen Royal Stafford Boxed Mug Set

Cath Kidston Coronation King & Queen Royal Stafford Boxed Mug Set

Now 30% Off

Real estate is a very important part of a robust financial portfolio, and you can bet that the King of England has a lot of it. He inherited ownership of The Crown Estate, which includes roughly $20.7 billion in net assets. The chunk of properties includes famous landmarks such as Regent Street, Ascot Racecourse, Windsor Great Park, and other shopping centers and farmland, per The Guardian.

King Charles owns this hefty sum through the duration of his reign, and can’t technically make any money off of them, per The Crown Estate website. The royal family does, however, receive a “Sovereign Grant” from the property, which is equal to 25% of the Crown Estate’s net profit from the two prior fiscal years. For example, the royal family received $108.4 million for 2019-2020, per Forbes. But, His Royal Majesty only ends up getting a cut of this money after it’s distributed and bills are paid, but it’s still a significant amount.

london prepares for the coronation of king charles iii and the queen consort

Regent Street was decorated earlier this week in preparation for King Charles III’s coronation.

Chris J Ratcliffe//Getty Images

He also developed the Duchy of Cornwall.

In addition to inheriting the queen’s real estate, King Charles III has some property of his own. When he was prince, Charles developed the private estate known as the Duchy of Cornwall. In the last decade, managers for Charles’ estate have grown the portfolio’s value and profits by 50 percent, per The New York Times.

The Duchy of Cornwall currently owns about 130,000 acres of land—roughly the size of the city of Chicago. It includes the landmark cricket ground known as The Oval, London office space, a suburban supermarket depot, farmland in the south of England, and seaside rentals. It’s currently valued at $1.4 billion. However, now that Charles is king, this is now technically owned by Prince William, per The Guardian. What a trust fund.

He also gets another property portfolio as king.

King Charles III will inherit even more property as king with the Duchy of Lancaster. Similar to the Duchy of Cornwall, this property portfolio includes a bunch of private estate that amounts to around $820 million in assets.

The revenues from the Duchy of Lancaster, which is owned in trust by the monarch, go directly into the king’s allowance, known as the Privy Purse. This covers official expenditures or is simply for Charles to spend (although he does have to pay an income tax on that portion).

King Charles doesn’t pay many taxes.

As the original nepo babies, the royal family has a significant tax break for simply being the royal family, and King Charles III has a significant exception. “Taxes do not apply to the Crown,” per the Royal Memorandum. This means that the king inherited all of the queen’s massive wealth directly—without paying a shilling of inheritance tax. He also doesn’t have to pay an income tax or capital gains tax.

An exemption from paying taxes is the royal family’s most significant financial asset, per The Guardian.

state opening of parliament 2022

King Charles giving a speech at the Palace of Westminster in May 2022.

WPA Pool//Getty Images

Her Majesty’s will is technically sealed for 90 years.

As the Queen’s successor, a lot of wealth fell into King Charles’ hands at the time of her death. However, the exact distributions of her assets won’t be known for several generations as her will is sealed for 90 years, per Forbes. He also won’t still be alive once the 90 years are up, so he gets the benefits of all of this inheritance tax free.

His net worth is an estimated $2.2 billion

Yup. As the King of England, Charles is obviously worth a lot. The Guardian recently estimated the king’s net worth at £1.8 billion, which is equivalent to about $2.2 billion.

This content is imported from poll. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

However, this is only the sum of his private estate. His true net worth is likely more significant, according to The Guardian. Further, a royal spokesperson told the publication that their estimates were “a highly creative mix of speculation, assumption and inaccuracy.”

Truthfully, it is impossible to estimate the exact wealth of the royal, given how much the royal family keeps private, and how much of their wealth is tied up in private investments and illiquid assets. Rest assured, he’s very wealthy!

Headshot of Olivia Evans

News Editorial Assistant

Olivia Evans (she/her) is an editorial assistant at Women’s Health. Her work has previously appeared in The Cut and Teen Vogue. She loves covering topics where culture and wellness intersect. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, running, and watching rom-coms. 



Source link