How old is the Queen, why does she have two birthdays and what is her net worth?

The Queen is today visiting the International Maritime Organisation to mark its 70th anniversary. While she still makes public appearances, her younger family – Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Charles and Kate Middleton – are far more frequently seen out at official engagements on behalf of Her Majesty. So we thought it a good time to take a look at how old the Queen is, how much she is worth and why she gets not one but TWO birthdays

• How has the Queen amassed this fortune?

According to Forbes, the Queen, 91, is worth £420 million. In 2017 she earned £76 million but this figure is set to rise in 2018 to £82.2 million. Her private real estate portfolio includes Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands and Sandringham House in Norfolk. She possesses one of the world’s largest stamp collections which was gathered by her grandfather. She also privately owns The Royal Stud at Sandringham and a collection of marine land throughout the UK.

Crucially, she also receives an annual government stipend of £9.8 million. On top of her private wealth, she also benefits from the assets owned by the Crown Estate which she enjoys as Queen. The Crown Estate owns Buckingham Palace, worth almost £4 billion, and the rest of the £7.6 billion worth of real estate.

The Crown Estate possesses the Royal Family’s art collection and their swans on the river Thames. In 2002 the Queen inherited her mother’s £70 million, and in 2012 received a Guinness World Record as the Wealthiest Queen in the world. In 2011 The Crown Estate was one of the largest property owners in the UK and produced £211 million for the Treasury in 2007/2008 with holdings of £7.3 billion in 2011. The Crown Estate is not owned by the Queen and cannot be sold by the Sovereign in a private capacity, nor do the revenues accrued from the Crown Estate line the Royal’s pockets. Instead, the Crown Estate is held in trust by Parliament, included in this is the Royal Families art collection with over 7,000 paintings, 40,000 watercolours and drawing and 150,000 old master prints, as well as the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London.

• Why does she celebrate TWO birthdays? 

The Queen celebrates one of her birthdays on the day she was born, which is 21 April. This year she will turn 92. But she also celebrates her ‘official’ birthday in June, which is usually on the second Saturday of the month. This year it will fall on Saturday 9 June. So why does Her Majesty have two birthdays then?

The tradition came from George II in 1748 and its origins can be traced to none other than the miserable British weather (yep, the weather was even a problem back then). As George was born in November, he felt the weather would be too cold and wet for his annual birthday parade. There was already the annual Trooping the Colour parade, designed to help familiarise soldiers with the colours of regiment flags, so he decided to combine the two.

The parade is now known as ‘The Queen’s Birthday Parade’. The Queen’s Birthday Parade is when she inspects soldiers from the Household Division and it takes place on Horse Guards Parade behind Whitehall. There is usually a 41-gun salute in Hyde Park, an 11-gun salute in Windsor Park and a 62-gun salute at the Tower of London at noon. The Queen also usually appears on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with other members of the royal family and there is usually a royal fly past from the RAF. All British sovereigns are given the option of having an ‘official birthday’, and she does so every year in June.

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