special envelope, which is delivered through the normal postal channels.

More information about applying for a message and interesting facts about

the tradition are contained in this section.

ROYAL FINANCES

This section provides the latest information on Head of State

expenditure, together with information about Royal financial arrangements.

It includes information about the four sources of funding of The Queen

(or officials of the Royal Household acting on her behalf). The Civil List

meets official expenditure relating to The Queen's duties as Head of State

and Head of the Commonwealth. Grants-in-Aid from Parliament provide upkeep

of the Royal Palaces and for Royal travel. The Privy Purse is traditional

income for the Sovereign's public and private use. Her Majesty's personal

income meets entirely private expenditure.

The Queen pays tax on her personal income and capital gains. The Civil

List and the Grants-in-Aid are not taxed because they cover official

expenditure. The Privy Purse is fully taxable, subject to a deduction for

official expenditure.

These pages also contain information about the financial arrangements of

other members of the Royal Family, together with information on the Royal

Philatelic Collection.

HEAD OF STATE EXPENDITURE 2000-01

Head of State expenditure is the official expenditure relating to The

Queen's duties as Head of State and Head of the Commonwealth. Head of State

expenditure is met from public funds in exchange for the surrender by The

Queen of the revenue from the Crown Estate.

Head of State expenditure for 2001-02, at Ј35.3 million, is 1.0% higher

than in the previous year (a decrease of 1.3% in real terms). The Ј350,000

increase is mainly attributable to fire precautions work at the Palace of

Holyroodhouse, offset by the fact that costs transferred from other funding

sources to the Civil List with effect from 1st April 2001 are only included

in 2001 Civil List expenditure for nine months. They will be included for a

full year in 2002 and subsequently. Costs have been transferred to the

Civil List from other funding sources in order to utilise the Civil List

reserve brought forward at 1st January 2001. Head of State expenditure has

reduced from Ј84.6 million (expressed in current pounds) in 1991-92, a

reduction of 58%.

SOURCES OF FUNDING

The four sources of funding of The Queen, or officials of the Royal

Household acting on Her Majesty's behalf, are: the Civil List, the Grants-

in-Aid for upkeep of Royal Palaces and for Royal travel, the Privy Purse

and The Queen's personal wealth and income.

FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS OF THE PRINCE OF WALES

The Prince of Wales does not receive any money from the State. Instead,

he receives the annual net surplus of the Duchy of Cornwall and uses it to

meet the costs of all aspects of his public and private commitments, and

those of Prince William and Prince Harry.

The Duchy's name is derived from the Earldom of Cornwall, which Edward

III elevated to a duchy in 1337. The Duchy's founding charter included the

gift of estates spread throughout England. It also stated that the Duchy

should be in the stewardship of the Heir Apparent, to provide the Heir with

an income independent of the Sovereign or the State.

After 660 years, the Duchy's land holdings have become more diversified,

but the Duchy is still predominantly an agricultural estate. Today, it

consists of around 57,000 hectares, mostly in the South of England. It is

run on a commercial basis, as prescribed by the parliamentary legislation

which governs its activities.

Prince Charles became the 24th Duke of Cornwall on The Queen's accession

in 1952. He is in effect a trustee, and is not entitled to the proceeds of

disposals of assets. The Prince must pass on the estate intact, so that it

continues to provide an income from its assets for future Dukes of

Cornwall.

The Duchy's net surplus for the year to 31 March 2002 was Ј7,827,000. As

a Crown body, the Duchy is tax exempt, but The Prince of Wales voluntarily

pays income tax (currently at 40%) on his taxable income from it.

FINANCES OF THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL FAMILY

Under the Civil List Acts, The Duke of Edinburgh receives an annual

parliamentary allowance to enable him to carry out public duties. Since

1993, The Queen has repaid to the Treasury the annual parliamentary

allowances received by other members of the Royal family.

The annual amounts payable to members of the Royal family (which are set

every ten years) were reset at their 1990 levels for the next ten years,

until December 2010. Apart from an increase of Ј45,000 on the occasion of

The Earl of Wessex's marriage, these amounts remain as follows:

Parliamentary annuity (not repaid by The Queen)

|HRH The Duke of Edinburgh | Ј359,000 |

Parliamentary annuities (repaid by The Queen)

|HRH The Duke of York |Ј249,000 |

|HRH The Earl of Wessex |Ј141,000 |

|HRH The Princess Royal |Ј228,000 |

|HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester |Ј87,000 |

|TRH The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester | |

|TRH The Duke and Duchess of Kent HRH Princess Alexandra, Hon.|*Ј636,000 |

|Lady Ogilvy | |

* Of the Ј636,000, Ј175,000 is provided by The Queen to The Duke and

Duchess of Gloucester, Ј236,000 to The Duke and Duchess of Kent and

Ј225,000 to Princess Alexandra.

As with the Civil List itself, most of these sums are spent on staff who

support public engagements and correspondence.

TAXATION

The Queen has always been subject to Value Added Tax and other indirect

taxes and she has paid local rates (Council Tax) on a voluntary basis. In

1992, however, The Queen offered to pay income tax and capital gains tax on

a voluntary basis. As from 1993, her personal income has been taxable as

for any taxpayer and the Privy Purse is fully taxable, subject to a

deduction for official expenditure. The Civil List and the Grants-in-Aid

are not remuneration for The Queen and are thus disregarded for tax.

Although The Queen's estate will be subject to Inheritance Tax, bequests

from Sovereign to Sovereign are exempt. This is because constitutional

impartiality requires an appropriate degree of financial independence for

the Sovereign and because the Sovereign is unable to generate significant

new wealth through earnings or business activities. Also, the Sovereign

cannot retire and so cannot mitigate Inheritance Tax by passing on assets

at an early stage to his or her successor.

As a Crown body, the Duchy of Cornwall is tax exempt, but since 1969 The

Prince of Wales has made voluntary contributions to the Exchequer. As from

1993, The Prince's income from the Duchy has been fully subject to tax on a

voluntary basis. He has always paid tax, including income tax, in all other

respects.

ROYAL ASSETS

The Queen does not 'own' the Royal Palaces, art treasures from the Royal

Collection, jewellery heirlooms and the Crown Jewels, all of which are held

by Her Majesty as Sovereign and not as an individual. They must be passed

on to The Queen's successor in due course. The Queen and some members of

the Royal Family past and present have made private collections - such as

the stamp collection begun by George V. This is separate to the Royal

Collection, although exhibitions and loans of stamps are sometimes made.

SYMBOLS

Many of the most familiar objects and events in national life incorporate

Royal symbols or represent the Monarchy in some way. Flags, coats of arms,

the crowns and treasures used at coronations and some ceremonies, stamps,

coins and the singing of the national anthem have strong associations with

the Monarchy and play a significant part in our daily existence. Other

objects - such as the Great Seal of the Realm - may be less familiar to the

general public but still have a powerful symbolic role.

NATIONAL ANTHEM

'God Save The King' was a patriotic song first publicly performed in

London in 1745, which came to be referred to as the National Anthem from

the beginning of the nineteenth century. The words and tune are anonymous,

and may date back to the seventeenth century.

In September 1745 the 'Young Pretender' to the British Throne, Prince

Charles Edward Stuart, defeated the army of King George II at Prestonpans,

near Edinburgh. In a fit of patriotic fervour after news of Prestonpans had

reached London, the leader of the band at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane,

arranged 'God Save The King' for performance after a play. It was a

tremendous success and was repeated nightly thereafter. This practice soon

spread to other theatres, and the custom of greeting the Monarch with the

song as he or she entered a place of public entertainment was thus

established.

There is no authorised version of the National Anthem as the words are a

matter of tradition. Additional verses have been added down the years, but

these are rarely used. The words used are those sung in 1745, substituting

'Queen' for 'King' where appropriate. On official occasions, only the first

verse is usually sung, as follows:

God save our gracious Queen!

Long live our noble Queen!

God save the Queen!

Send her victorious,

Happy and glorious,

Long to reign over us,

God save the Queen.

An additional verse is occasionally sung:

Thy choicest gifts in store

On her be pleased to pour,

Long may she reign.

May she defend our laws,

And ever give us cause,

To sing with heart and voice,

God save the Queen.

The British tune has been used in other countries - as European visitors

to Britain in the eighteenth century noticed the advantage of a country

possessing such a recognised musical symbol - including Germany, Russia,

Switzerland and America (where use of the tune continued after

independence). Some 140 composers, including Beethoven, Haydn and Brahms,

have used the tune in their compositions.

ROYAL WARRANTS

Royal Warrants are granted to people or companies who have regularly

supplied goods or services for a minimum of five consecutive years to The

Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother or The

Prince of Wales. They are advised by the Lord Chamberlain who is head of

the Royal Household and chairman of the Royal Household Tradesmen's

Warrants Committee. Each of these four members of the Royal family can

grant only one warrant to any individual business. However, a business may

hold warrants from more than one member of the Royal family and a handful

of companies holds all four.

The warrants are a mark of recognition that tradesmen are regular

suppliers of goods and services to the Royal households. Strict regulations

govern the warrant, which allows the grantee or his company to use the

legend 'By Appointment' and display the Royal Arms on his products, such as

stationery, advertisements and other printed material, in his or her

premises and on delivery vehicles.

A Royal Warrant is initially granted for five years, after which time it

comes up for review by the Royal Household Tradesmen's Warrants Committee.

Warrants may not be renewed if the quality or supply for the product or

service is insufficient, as far as the relevant Royal Household is

concerned. A Warrant may, however, be cancelled at any time and is

automatically reviewed if the grantee dies or leaves the business, or if

the firm goes bankrupt or is sold. There are rules to ensure that high

standards are maintained.

Since the Middle Ages, tradesmen who have acted as suppliers of goods and

services to the Sovereign have received formal recognition. In the

beginning, this patronage took the form of royal charters given

collectively to various guilds in trades and crafts which later became

known as livery companies. Over the centuries, the relationship between the

Crown and individual tradesmen was formalised by the issue of royal

warrants.

In the reign of Henry VIII, Thomas Hewytt was appointed to 'Serve the

Court with Swannes and Cranes and all kinds of Wildfoule'. A hard-working

Anne Harris was appointed as the 'King's Laundresse'. Elizabeth I's

household book listed, among other things, the Yeomen Purveyors of 'Veales,

Beeves & Muttons; Sea & Freshwater Fish'. In 1684 goods and services to the

Palace included a Haberdasher of Hats, a Watchmaker in Reversion, an

Operator for the Teeth and a Goffe-Club Maker. According to the Royal

Kalendar of 1789, a Pin Maker, a Mole Taker, a Card Maker and a Rat Catcher

are among other tradesmen appointed to the court. A notable omission was

the Bug Taker - at that time one of the busiest functionaries at court but

perhaps not one to be recorded in a Royal Kalendar. Records also show that

in 1776 Mr Savage Bear was 'Purveyor of Greens Fruits and Garden Things',

and that in 1820 Mr William Giblet was supplying meat to the table of

George IV.

Warrant holders today represent a large cross-section of British trade

and industry (there is a small number of foreign names), ranging from dry

cleaners to fishmongers, and from agricultural machinery to computer

software. A number of firms have a record of Royal Warrants reaching back

over more than 100 years. Warrant-holding firms do not provide their goods

or services free to the Royal households, and all transactions are

conducted on a strictly commercial basis. There are currently approximately

800 Royal Warrant holders, holding over 1,100 Royal Warrants between them

(some have more than one Royal Warrant).

On 25 May 1840, a gathering of 'Her Majesty's Tradesmen' held a

celebration in honour of Queen Victoria's birthday. They later decided to

make this an annual event and formed themselves for the purpose into an

association which eventually became known as the Royal Warrant Holders

Association.

The Association acts both in a supervisory role to ensure that the

standards of quality and reliability in their goods and services are

upheld, and as a channel of communication for its members in their dealings

with the various departments of the Royal Household. The Association

ensures that the Royal Warrant is not used by those not entitled and is

correctly applied by those who are.

BANK NOTES AND COINAGE

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