Britain’s Queen faces massive post-Brexit losses: Report

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II faces massive losses on her royal estate following the country’s vote to leave the European Union (EU), a media report claimed on Sunday.

Sandringham Estate, the British monarch’s country retreat in Norfolk, will lose close to 700,000 pounds a year when EU farming subsidies end while the farms near Windsor Castle will be around 300,000 pounds down, the Sunday Telegraph reported. The estates of Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, are also facing a funding cut from Brexit of 100,000 pounds a year while the Crown Estate which manages Royal land will also be hit, taking the total to an estimated million pounds.

The losses will mirror those of estates and country houses across Britain as well as many farmers, who benefit from Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments the EU’s system of rural support. The billions of pounds of subsidies will end when Britain leaves the EU, which on current timescales will be by 2019. Analysis by the Telegraph has revealed the full extent to which royal estates benefit from the subsidies, totalling more than 1 million pounds last year.

In 2015, Sandringham received 665,000 pounds, the Royal Farms in Windsor got 298,000 pounds, the Duchy of Cornwall was given 129,000 pounds and the Crown Estate got 350,000 pounds. 

A source familiar with royal finances told the newspaper the loss of funding had caused concern before and after the EU referendum. “I don’t think it was a budget-busting concern, it wasn’t something people were losing sleep over. But it was something people were conscious of as a post-referendum impact,” the source said.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said “Subsidies are open to all farmers; and like others with agricultural interests, subsidies are received on The Queen’s private estates. We would not comment beyond the detail that is already in the public domain as a matter of record”.