Queen Elizabeth could be getting a huge pay raise

Queen Elizabeth II’s ninth decade is off to an auspicious start. There were months of celebrations, filled with parades and portraits and posing on the palace balcony. There were neon ensembles sported to mark the occasions—flashing greens and pinks. And now, there’s the prospect of a pretty astounding pay raise on the horizon.

The Queen is expected to earn £45.6 million next year—a 6.5 leap raise from a year earlier, and a 47 percent increase in just five years, the Telegraph reports. It isn’t as though her majesty is taking a bigger share of the pot than she is due; her salary—or “Sovereign Grant,” as it’s known—is hitched to the total profit of the Crown Estate. The Queen traditionally is awarded 15 percent of its total profit from the previous two financial years. It just so happened that last year, the Estate rose to a record £304.1 million, buoying the sum she takes home to her palace.

But she is not just stockpiling a vast fortune beneath her throne. A Buckingham Palace spokesman said the Royal Family spent a total of £53.7 in 2015-16, with £19.5 million going toward staff wages. Spending on property maintenance for its palaces alone accounted for £16.3 million, as Keeper of the Privy Purse Sir Alan Reid explained, because the condition of the estate was deteriorating at a faster clip than they were able to respond to, according to the Evening Standard. Royal travel also ate into the estate, amounting to £4 million. A charter plane for Prince Charlies and Camilla’s visit to the Balkans this spring cost £94,409, and his charter to Turkey rung up a £74,500 tab.

Now, before any wild royal rumpus starts and the Queen starts making it rain pounds off the palace balcony, her pay raise is subject to review this year. The prime minister, whomever that may be after David Cameron steps down in October, can decide (alongside the Chancellor and Sir Reid) to cut the 15 percent she is usually allocated. But they are not permitted to decrease her share below the £42.8m the Queen made this year. The pay clause in her contract sounds like the most exquisite royal perk of all.

(VANITY FAIR)