Queen set to lose £1m in EU subsidies after Brexit

The Queen currently receives £700,000 a year in support for her Sandringham estate
The Queen currently receives £700,000 a year in support for her Sandringham estate

The Queen could lose a million pounds in lost farming subsidies every year after Brexit is initiated, estimate Buckingham Palace aides.

The Queen currently receives £700,000 a year in support for her Sandringham estate in Norfolk and £300,000 a year for land around Windsor Castle.

And Prince Charles’ estates could lose out on £100,000 as a result of Britain’s decision to quit the EU, with the Crown Estate – which manages Royal land – also being affected.

A source familiar with Royal finances told the Sunday Telelgraph the Palace is not "losing sleep over" the projected loss of revenue.

The billions of pounds of subsidies will end when Britain leaves the EU, which on current timescales will be by 2019.

The Chancellor Philip Hammond has said he will match the EU funding after Britain leaves the EU but only until 2020.

Currently, only three per cent of Europe's population are farmers while the CAP makes up 40 per cent of the whole EU budget.

'Under pressure'

"I don’t think it was a budget-busting concern, it wasn’t something people were losing sleep over. But it was something people were conscious of as a post-referendum impact," the source said.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said "Subsidies are open to all farmers; and like others with agricultural interests, subsidies are received on the Queen’s private estates. We would not comment beyond the detail that is already in the public domain as a matter of record".

They added that the Keeper of the Privy Purse, who looks after the Queen’s finances, would likely be sounding out Government figures, though no meetings are known to have taken place.

Ministers are now under pressure to break their refusal to provide commitments for post-Brexit Britain and publicly say the payments will be continued.

Brexit-backing former Tory minister Sir Gerald Howarth dispelled fears the EU funds would not be replaced by the Government.

He said: "What we all said during the Leave campaign was that all those currently in receipt of so-called EU money will continue to receive the same money because we will be saving £20billion every year.

"What Brexit does is to give the United Kingdom the chance to fashion a farm price support mechanism designed exclusively for the benefit of British farmers."

In 2015, Sandringham received £665,000, the Royal Farms in Windsor got £298,000, the Duchy of Cornwall was given £129,000 and the Crown Estate got £350,000.