Queen Elizabeth’s ‘generous deal’ after ‘running out of money’ revealed
Queen Elizabeth and the royal family’s fortunes haven’t always remained stable, with the former UK PM David Cameron admitting that the monarchy almost ‘ran out of money’ before the monarch accepted a ‘generous deal’ that saved them, reported Express UK.
Talking to royal expert Robert Hardman for his biography Queen of our Times: The Life of Elizabeth II, the duo shared that at one point, the royal household was ‘running out of money’ and so, had to okay a ‘generous’ deal to stay afloat.
Cameron and Osborne explained how they laboured to restore the monarchy’s financial situation when they were elected in 2010 by establishing the ‘Sovereign Grant’.
The former PM said of the crown: “They were running out of money to fix things.”
However, with his introduction of the Sovereign Grant, which is funded by a percentage of the profits of the Crown Estate, the monarchy’s fortunes increased.
“The Treasury saw an opportunity to do a big, bold reform and I think George Osborne relished it because the historian in him loved the idea of trying to fix this long-standing problem. I thought this was a great challenge for the relationship between No 10 and the Palace: can we get this done?” said Cameron.
Cameron revealed that the crown estate revenues soared, with Osborne admitting that they had ‘more money than anyone expected’.
“It was generous, but I don’t mind. It was better to have something that was long-term sustainable” Cameron concluded.
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