Why Anne, Edward and Andrew faced tax blow after Queen Elizabeth's death

When Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022, her reported £380 million fortune did not flow equally across her children, leaving Princess Anne, Prince Edward and Prince Andrew facing a significant financial hit.

Thanks to a special tax exemption introduced by Sir John Major’s government in 1993, only transfers of assets from one monarch directly to their successor are free from inheritance tax. 

This means King Charles inherited his late mother’s wealth without the standard 40 percent tax rate that applies to estates worth more than £325,000.

The agreement was designed to “prevent the dilution of the Crown’s wealth and ensure the continuity of the monarchy’s functioning.” 

However, it also meant that if Anne, Edward, or Andrew received any inheritance directly from the late Queen, it would have been subject to heavy taxation.

It remains unclear whether Charles’s siblings received anything privately, but unlike their brother, they would not have benefitted from the exemption.

The Crown Estate itself is worth over £15.6 billion, though only 25 percent of its revenue is allocated to the royal family through the Sovereign Grant, set at £132 million for 2024–25, with the rest going to the UK Treasury.

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