Since she became the Princess of Wales, there’s been interest in Kate Middleton’s net worth and how much she and Prince William make now that they’re the next couple in line for the British throne.
Kate—whose full name is Catherine Elizabeth Middleton—is the wife of Prince William, the Prince of Wales and the heir apparent to the British throne. As William’s wife, Kate is the Princess of Wales and the next Queen Consort. Kate and William married in 2011 and share three children together: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. William and Kate became the Prince and Princess of Wales after the death of William’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, on September 8, 2022. The death of the Queen made William’s father, Charles, the new King of the United Kingdom and the 14 Commonwealth realms, which led William to take over his title as the Prince of Wales.
Kate told a well-wisher in September 2022 about how her youngest son, Prince Louis, comforted her after the Queen’s death. “My little Louis is just so sweet. He said, ‘Mummy don’t worry, because she is now with great grandpa,” Kate said, referring to the Queen’s late husband, Prince Philip, who died in April 2021. Royal expert Gareth Russell told Us Weekly about how Kate’s new royal title—which was the title of Princess Diana before her death—carries a “huge emotional weight” for her. “It has a huge emotional weight,” he said. “Princess Diana had such a great impact across the world with both her charisma and her fame and also her humanitarian and charitable activities.” He continued, “But the title [of Princess of Wales], you know, was used by many people before Diana, and … it is now being used afterward.”
Russell also told Us Weekly about the sentiment behind the title for the British public. “I think it is quite moving for a lot of people that the last person to hold [the Princess of Wales title] was William’s mother and now it’s his wife,” he said. I think it puts a good kind of pressure [on the Cambridges] because it brings a lot of the … emotional collateral charisma that Princess Diana had … and invests that title with a certain emotional appeal to people.”
But back to Kate Middleton‘s net worth. So what is Kate Middleton’s net worth and how does she make her money with Prince William? Read on for what we know about Kate Middleton’s net worth and what the Queen left her in her inheritance.
How does Kate Middleton make money?
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How does Kate Middleton make money? Kate and her husband, Prince William, were named the Princess and Prince of Wales after William’s father, King Charles III, became the new King of the United Kingdom and the 14 Commonwealth realms following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022. After his father became king, William is now the heir apparent to the British throne, making Kate the next Queen Consort.
As the new Prince and Princess of Wales, William and Kate receive a majority of their income from a private estate called the Duchy of Cornwall, which was established in 1337 to financially support the heir to the throne, according to CNN. The Duchy of Cornwall—which provided the income for Charles and Camilla before they became King and Queen Consort—is funded through the ownership and operation of land in rural and urban areas, as well as islands and rental cottages in Wales, Cornwall and other areas in the United Kingdom.
In 2018, the Duchy of Cornwall made Charles and Camilla $28 million, which is around what William and Kate will make as well. According to CNN, about 50 percent of Charles and Camilla’s annual income was spent on travel and official royal engagements, while a quarter went to taxes. The remaining $8.9 million went to Charles’ children with his late wife Princess Diana—Prince William and Prince Harry—as well as non-official purchases and a royal savings account.
William and Kate’s income also include money from Sovereign Grant, a taxpayer fund paid each year to the British royal family. The Sovereign Grant originated from an agreement made by King George III in 1760, who agreed to surrender his income from Parliament to receive a set annual payment for himself and future generations of the British royal family. The agreement was originally known as the Civil List before it was reworked as the Sovereign Grant in 2012.
Under the agreement, the British royal family receives a grant in exchange for surrendering their profits from the Crown Estate, the family’s collection of lands and holdings worth £14.1 billion, to the government, according to BBC. Each year, the reigning monarch receives 25 percent of the Crown Estate’s profits. The amount pays for property upkeep and utilities, the British royal family’s travel and the royal employee payroll. The grant doesn’t cover security and royal ceremonies, which are funded by other areas.
William, for his part, also has money from the trust his mother, Princess Diana, left him and his younger brother, Prince Harry, after her death in 1997. William gained access to them on his 30th birthday. According to Cheat Sheet, Diana left William $10 million in assets, which included his late mother’s jewelry collection that he and Harry split.
Kate and William are also senior members of The Firm, also known as the Monarchy PLC, according to Fortune, which is made up of the public faces of the House of Windsor and the royal family members the Queen Elizabeth II—now King Charles—was the head of. The firm operates and a multi-million-pound business empire that boosts the United Kingdom economy through televised events and tourism, according to Fortune. Before her death, the Queen was the head of The Firm. The other seven members were: Prince Charles; his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; Prince William; Kate, Duchess of Cambridge; Princess Anne; Prince Edward; and his wife Sophie, Countess of Essex. According to Forbes, the British royal family holds almost $28 billion in real estate as of 2021 that cannot be sold. Here’s how that amount breaks down:
The Crown Estate: $19.5 billion
Buckingham Palace: $4.9 billion
The Duchy of Cornwall: $1.3 billion
The Duchy of Lancaster: $748 million
Kensington Palace: $630 million
The Crown Estate of Scotland: $592 million
How much did Kate Middleton inherit from Queen Elizabeth?
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How much did Kate Middleton inherit from Queen Elizabeth II? Radar Online reported in September 2022 that was Kate was expected to inherit $110 million in jewelry from the Queen after her death. The collection includes 300 personal pieces of jewelry that belonged just to the Queen and not the Crown. “She’s been focusing on her beloved pieces and who deserves what,” a source told Radar Online in July 2022 before the Queen’s death. “The whispers are that she’s made some last-minute changes to her will that’ll be a shocking surprise for her heirs.” The source also reported at the time that the Queen and Kate became especially close in the months before the monarch’s death, which caused resentment with Camilla. “Kate is clearly the family favorite,” the insider said. “She’d never say it, of course, but it’s one of the reasons Camilla resented Kate.”
Radar Online also reported that Kate’s sister-in-law, Meghan Markle (who is married to Prince Harry) and her niece, Lilibet Diana Mountbatten, were left out of the inheritance. “There’s a very good chance the Queen won’t leave either of them any jewels of value,” the source said. “It’s not surprising, since they’re not members of the royal family anymore, but it would be a real slap in the face.” Radar Online also reported that William and Kate were “not worried” about what they would receive from the Queen because they knew where they stood with the late monarch.
The site also reported that Kate will likely give some of her jewels to her niece because she and William “really don’t want Lilibet to be left out.” The insider continued, “As for Meghan, she’s not their concern.” As for why the Queen left out Meghan, the source reported that it could be due to “practicality. “Some people think it won’t be out of spite, but practicality,” the insider said. “Others say it would be the Queen sending a message to Meghan and Harry: You reap what you sow.”
What is Kate Middleton’s net worth?
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What is Kate Middleton’s net worth? Kate Middleton’s net worth is $10 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Before she married William, Kate worked for Jigsaw, a fashion retailer where she procured jewelry, from 2006 to 2007. In 2011, she joined her family’s party supply business Party Pieces, which is worth $50 million, according to Cheat Sheet. The store was successful before Kate and William married in 2011, but the site reports that the company’s business has since skyrocketed due to its association with the British royal family.
As a senior member of the British royal family, Kate’s patronages include East Anglia’s Children’s Hospice, Action on Addiction, and the Natural History Museum. Most of Kate’s work with the British royal family is focused on children, addiction and mental health. In 2019, she started supporting Backyard Nature, an organization that helps families and their children to get connected with nature. In 2016, she and William also collaborated in their “Heads Together” campaign, which encouraged people to be more open about mental health. Kate also launched the project Mentally Healthy Schools, which focuses on providing students with mental health resources.
What is Prince William’s net worth?
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It’s hard to say what Prince William’s net worth is for sure because the monarchy is pretty cagey about its finances, but it’s estimated Prince William’s net worth is around $100 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. His great-grandmother, the Queen Mother, who passed away in 2002, put the bulk of her estimated $89 million fortune in a trust fund for her great-grandchildren, William and Harry, in 1994, the BBC reported at the time of her death. “Princes William and Harry will reportedly share about £14m from the estate of their late great grandmother,” the network reported in 2002. That’s about $17.9 million. The bulk of the cash will go to the younger brother since William will benefit financially by becoming king.”
At the death of William’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, on September 8, 2022, her son Charles ascended to the throne as King Charles III and Prince William became the heir to the British throne. This means he received a significant inheritance as well as multiple new titles that expanded his property portfolio in addition to his title as the Duke of Cambridge and Rothesay.
Most notably, William inherited the Duchy of Cornwall, around 130,000 acres in southwest England worth approximately $1.2 billion in 2022. The Duchy of Cornwall is a domain established in 1337 by King Edward III to provide private income to his heir, Edward, later known as the Black Prince. It continues to serve the purpose of funding the heir to the throne 685 years later. According to its annual revenue report, Cornwall includes some 2,640 leases and tenancy agreements, 260 farms, about $67 million, in development land and around $397 million in commercial property. The official website says revenue from the estate is “used to fund the public, private and charitable activities.”
These latest additions to William’s property portfolio make him one of the most significant private landowners in Britain and it will generate him considerable wealth. It was estimated that in 2021, William’s father Charles (during his role as the Duke of Cornwall) oversaw $23 million in income that was generated by activity on the estate, according to the duchy’s annual accounts. Secretary and Keeper of the Records for the Duchy of Cornwall, Alastair Martin, is the man responsible for the expansion of the duchy’s commercial operations. Since 2013, he has increased the duchy’s assets by 44% by building new property, as well as enjoying the increase in the value of real estate in the UK.
“I wouldn’t say profit is a dirty word, that’s why we exist,” Martin said about the Duchy in a 2021 conversation with the Royal Agricultural University. Records show that since Martin took over revenue from commercial activities and the sale of goods has risen by about £5 million ($5.8 million). The duchy also added The Oval cricket ground in south London, Dartmoor Prison, and the Isles of Scilly to its property portfolio and just last year alone, Cornwall bought land worth nearly £42 million ($48.5 million), including several housing developments.
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For more about the British royal family, check out Sally Bedell Smith’s 2012 biography, Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch
. The New York Times bestseller, which includes the “real story” behind several storylines featured in Netflix’s The Crown, follows Queen Elizabeth II’s life from her childhood as the “heiress presumptive” to her father, King George VI; to the moment he met her husband, Prince Philip, when she was 13 years old; to her ascension to the throne at 25 years old in 1952. Elizabeth the Queen, which also includes interviews with Buckingham Palace sources and never-before-revealed documents, provides a deep dive into the Queen’s legacy as one of the most famous monarchs in recent history.
