Loadsamoney. Under the civil list, the royal family gets £7.9m a year to cover public duties. Of this, £4,701,971 goes on staff salaries, £423,326 on garden parties, £66,749 on alcohol, £118,000 on royal carriages, £142,000 on stationery, £230,872 on private travel, and £72,000 on lawyers.
Tax evasion. By exercising an obscure “sovereign to sovereign” clause in a 1993 deal with the Conservative government, the Queen, the main recipient of her mother’s estate, will not pay the 40 per cent inheritance tax that her subjects must pay.
Dodging charges. The Queen and Prince Charles won’t have to pay the £5 road toll for travelling through the heart of London that is being levied from next year on everyone else except taxi drivers, the emergency services and NHS staff.
Corporate collusion. In the 1990s, Charles met with those upholders of financial probity, the former Enron chief executive Kenneth Lay and the ex-chairman of Enron Europe John Wing, to thank them for £800,000 corporate sponsorship given to his charity.
Cover-ups. The many government files on royalty that remain classified include the “Monckton boxes”, dating from 1937. Due to have been made public on 1 March 2000, they are believed to contain damning evidence of Edward VIII’s support for the Nazis. They will now stay closed until 2037.
Bastards. Republican groups have called for the DNA testing of all royalty who receive money from the taxpayers to check that they are indeed legitimate members of the royal family. Critics allege close likenesses between some royal princes and friends of the family.
A load of old cod. When caught in British waters, sturgeon, whales and grampus all officially belong to the Crown.
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