<P> The Prince of Wales voluntarily pays a sum equivalent to income tax on that part of his income from the Duchy of Cornwall that is in excess of what is needed to meet official expenditure . From 1969 he made voluntary tax payments of 50% of the profits, but this reduced to 25% in 1981 when he married Lady Diana Spencer . These arrangements were replaced by the memorandum in 1993 . The income of the Prince of Wales from sources other than the Duchy of Cornwall is subject to tax in the normal way . </P> <P> The Queen has a private income from her personal investment portfolio, though her personal wealth and income are not known . Jock Colville, a former private secretary to the Queen (when she was Princess Elizabeth) and a director of her bank, Coutts, estimated her wealth at £ 2 million in 1971 (the equivalent of about £ 26 million today). An official statement from Buckingham Palace in 1993 called estimates of £ 100 million "grossly overstated". In 2002, she inherited her mother's estate, thought to have been worth £ 70 million (the equivalent of about £ 105 million today). </P> <P> Forbes magazine estimated the Queen's net worth at around $500 million (about £ 325 million) in 2011, while an analysis by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index put it at $425 million (about £ 275 million) in 2015 . In 2012 the Sunday Times estimated the Queen's wealth as being £ 310 million ($504 million), and that year the Queen received a Guinness World Record as Wealthiest Queen . The Sunday Times Rich List 2015 estimated her wealth at £ 340 million, making her the 302nd richest person in the United Kingdom; that was the first year she was not among the Sunday Times Rich List's top 300 most wealthy since the list began in 1989 . She was number one on the list when it began in 1989 . </P> <P> Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle are privately owned by the Queen . </P>

Where does the british monarchy get its money