KING EDWARD'S RICHES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 115, 16 May 1936, Page 8 (Supplement)

KING EDWARD'S RICHES.

Vast Inherited Income.

GREAT ESTATES AND PRICELESS TREASURES.

LONDON. WHAT is the income of the King of England, and what will Edward VIII. inherit from his father? A bewildering miscellany of incomes, letters, jewels, books, police stations, streets, palaces, stamps, oyster beds, theatres and mineral rights—perhaps the most varied and complicated estate of any living man, and certainly one of the most difficult to administer. The King is one of the greatest landlords in England. However, ever since 1700 each sovereign has made over the revenues from these possessions to thu nation in return for a fixed annual income for life. The . animal income from King Edward's possessions which will thus be held in trust by the nation amounts to more than £1,100,000. Where does all this come from? He is the owner of immense London properties—the ground

landlord of His Majesty's theatre, of the majestic stucco mansions in Carlton House Terrace, of the Royal Opera Arcade, of Vine Street police station, of Pali Mall, and of the Criterion block at Piccadilly Circus that alone yields £8000 a year. Besides huge blocks of property all over London, he also is landlord over Regent Street, that modern gold mine that has multiplied its rent roll seven times since being rebuilt, from £44,000 to £315,000.

The Crown lands all in all comprise about 319,000 acres. They include immense Welsh mining rights, salmon fishing in Scotland, 70,000 acres (more than 100 square miles) of agricultural land, and, among other properties, the Isle of Man in the Irish, sea.

If Parliament grants the King t)v. same income on the civil list that it did to his father he will receive £420,000. of which more than three-quarters is appropriated for household expenses, salaries, pensions, works, charity, etc., leaving none too much for his needs.

Should Parliament decide that, being unmarried, King Edward does not need as much as this, it is quite probable that lie will reserve for himself the income from his own property, the- Duchy of Cornwall. This amounts to £204,000 a year, of which he has been receiving between £00,000 and £70,000 after all expenses and other deductions have been made. Nevertheless, money goes fast in the palaces. When the cost of living was much lower, in 1909, it was revealed t.i a Parliamentary committee that the Royal cellars cost more than £7400; Buckingham Palace. £29.000; Windsor Castle, £10,800; Sandringham, £11,000; the Royal laundry, £0000; the Royal yacht, £2900; carriages and automobiles, £5000; and liveries, £5200. The*e expenses would naturally be much higher to-day and would have the addition of the private aeroplane and its upkeep, for he is the first British monarch to fly. Among his inheritances is the Duchy of Lancaster, the private estate of the King. Who could set a price on Buckingham Palace, or Windsor, Balmoral, or Sandringham ? These buildings, as well as the treasures that iill them, would fetch fabulous prices in any market, not only because of their intrinsic worth, but because of their history and tradition. It \vas v estimated at one time that Buckingham Palace, the most valuable of the King's possessions, standing in a superb site, probably would be worth £3.000,000. But again, the difference between the actual worth and the price that could be obtained is enormous.

that they require several men to move them. Before these pieces are used they are always warmed by immersion in boiling water, because othen methods might injure them.

Valuable as is the palace, its contents arc worth more. Tlie gold plate alone is valued at £2,000,000. It weighs five tons, and some pieces are so heavy

The great art collections housed at Buckingham Palace and at Windsor — Titians, Rembrandts, Watteaus, Velaequezes, Gainsboroughs—are worth at least £1,000,000. There wae a curious doubt in 1914 as to who really owned these pictures, and State papers were to be examined in search of confirmation, but nothing ever was announced.

Then there is the jewellery that has been collected by and given to the Royal family during the centuries of England's history. Huge diamonds, priceless emeralds, rubies and sapphires, and the crown jewels —who could say what their value would be?

The Royal library at Windsor, containing more than 100,000 volumes, many of them first editions, beautifully bound, the oldest ones superbly illuminated, would fetch enormous sums if they were put up for auction. Among the most important possessions Edward VIII. will inherit, are his father's private letters and those of his ancestors before him. Royal letters always have been the object of extraordinary attention and have been jealously guarded. When the late King George received his father's letters they were carefully filed in a steel-lined cabinet. Not least valuable of the new possessions of Edward VIII. is his father's stamp collection. about 000,000 stamps, the collection is carefully filed in a long row of bound albums arranged according to country, year, and issue. Its value is held to bo at least £400,000.