Queen Elizabeth is no doubt one of the richest and most powerful women in the world. She's
reportedly worth an astonishing $530 million and her lifestyle certainly reflects her enormous
wealth. Need proof? These are all the ways Queen Elizabeth lives an insanely lavish life.
Queen Elizabeth's home base is Buckingham Palace in London. The huge palace has 775
rooms total and of those rooms, 78 are bathrooms.
You can even take a tour of some parts of the palace. The main feature of the summer
tours at the palace is the state rooms, of which there are 19. These are the rooms where
the queen spends time with guests. There's also a huge bronze staircase, dubbed the Grand
Staircase, with elaborate carvings. The palace is filled with expensive artwork, fine porcelain,
and clocks. In fact, there are so many analog clocks that there are two full-time workers
who wind and take care of them.
In addition to these features, Buckingham Palace is also home to sweeping, lush gardens.
According to Visit London, there's even a lake on the property that spans some three
acres. The gardens outside the palace are, naturally, used to host Queen Elizabeth's
garden parties. Hello! magazine reported that these parties bring in 30,000 people annually.
One of the most enviable things about Queen Elizabeth is her huge collection of priceless
jewels. Tiaras are especially enchanting since they're associated with being a royal. The
queen has plenty of tiaras, to be sure, but one in particular contains an impressive number
of precious stones.
According to Harper's Bazaar, Queen Elizabeth's Burmese Ruby tiara features a whopping 96
rubies. Upon Queen Elizabeth's marriage to Prince Philip, Myanmar sent them to the royal
couple as a wedding present. Although that was back in the '40s, she didn't get them
fastened into a tiara until the '70s.
If you think that's impressive, though, you should know she also has a crown with over
2,000 diamonds as well as other gems. It's the Imperial State Crown that has historically
been worn for coronations, including the queen's own, since the 1930s. And according to her
royal dresser those diamonds sparkle because they are cleaned with gin.
Being the queen means that Queen Elizabeth travels a lot for diplomatic duties. Her first
trip as the queen was to Kenya in 1952, the year she became England's monarch. According
to Reader's Digest, she has been to over 120 countries during her reign. Her apparent favorite
is Canada, which is the place that she's visited the most; she's stopped in at least 27 times.
As part of the Commonwealth, Canada technically falls under her rulership.
It might surprise you that Queen Elizabeth doesn't get to choose where she goes on trips,
though. That's up to the United Kingdom government, which makes decisions depending on how safe
a potential visit would be. It turns out that even the Queen of England doesn't get to do
everything she wants.
However, she does get to fly without a passport, as reported by Reader's Digest. British passports
are issued in the queen's name, so she herself doesn't need one to travel. Lucky!
If you thought Buckingham Palace was impressive, you'll be in awe of another royal family home:
Windsor Castle. It's one of the Queen's six residences, and it's the largest occupied
castle in the world, with roughly 1,000 rooms.
The home also has a rich history. The outlet stated that the British royal family has lived
in it for around a millennium. As for Queen Elizabeth's history at Windsor Castle, she
lived there quite a bit growing up. Reader's Digest Canada reported that she and her sister,
Princess Margaret, took shelter there during bombings London in World War II.
The history there isn't all grim, however. Windsor Castle has also been the venue for
royal weddings, including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding. As of October 2018,
there's been a total of 17 weddings held at the castle, the official website for the British
royal family confirmed. It is a beautiful venue, after all.
What kinds of things does the queen buy with her vast wealth? Well, handbags of course!
She's long been a fan of the high-end brand Launer. Town & Country reported that her mother
gifted the then-princess with her first Launer bag in the '50s, and she's been hooked ever
since. The CEO of Launer London, Gerald Bodmer, said that Queen Elizabeth has 200 purses by
the brand. You can spot one in most every photo taken of her.
The queen's love for the brand isn't cheap, however. They can run as much as $2,346 per
purse, as reported by Good Housekeeping. That's chump change to a queen, though. Besides,
they're more than simply handbags to her; she uses them as codes to her aides. According
to Today, the queen will move her purse from her left arm to her right as a signal to her
staff -
"Excuse me, you're urgently needed to talk to the archbishop of Canterbury or something."
Sneaky!
Queen Elizabeth has access to a private plane for travel, which she needs to use often.
To get to where she's going, she uses the Royal Air Force plane Voyager, as reported
by CNBC. Government officials and the rest of the royal family also have access to this
plane. Transporting those select few isn't the jet's only job, though. It's also used
to refuel other Royal Air Force planes.
These trips taken by the queen and other royals aren't cheap and they're paid for by the British
citizens' tax money, as reported by Town & Country. The exception is when the queen is traveling
to another country within the Commonwealth. In those instances, the country she's visiting
funds her travel.
The monarch is no stranger to taking the train, either. She uses one every year to travel
to Sandringham estate in Norfolk. Historically, the royals spend Christmas there and, for
those trips, she opts for a commercial train. That said, the Royal Train does exist; Queen
Elizabeth and Meghan Markle took a trip on it together in 2018, though it reportedly
carried a heavy price tag of over $26,000.
According to Darren McGrady, the queen's former chef, he got to travel all over the world
for his work. He told The Seattle Times that he took the job for the prestige and not for
the paycheck, which isn't necessarily impressive, he explained. He had to be prepared to cook
for a lot of people when the queen hosted, which was often. McGrady disclosed that Queen
Elizabeth is a little unadventurous in her eating, revealing that she loves chocolate
as well as Special K cereal. Now that we can relate to!
A 2020 job posting by the Royal Household in search of a sous chef mentioned the benefits
of cooking for the queen, which include 33 days of vacation annually. You can even live
in Buckingham Palace if you'd like, with meals included, but these do come out of your paycheck.
It also stated that the job required knowledge of French cuisine, which Queen Elizabeth enjoys.
We're a little jealous that she has people preparing decadent food for her all the time.
The queen owns her very own racehorses and goes to horse races often, even traveling
to Kentucky to visit the stud farms there. Her love for horses isn't some new phase,
though. Reader's Digest reported that she first rode a horse when she was only three
years old, and got her first pony when she was four. The publication also stated that
Queen Elizabeth doesn't just watch horse races; she rides them as well.
The queen's horsey hobby has managed to earn her a lot of money. As of 2017, she'd netted
$9.4 million from over 450 races won by her racehorses, according to Reader's Digest.
John Warren, the queen's racing advisor, told The Telegraph,
"If the Queen wasn't the Queen, she would have made a wonderful trainer. She has such
an affinity with horses and is so perceptive."
The Queen reportedly likes to drive, although she doesn't go far. She can be spotted driving
to church or on the grounds of her country estate, according to Town & Country. Despite
staying local, she has many vehicle options. In photos, the queen is often pictured behind
the wheel of her Range Rover, but you'll also sometimes see the royals riding in a Jaguar.
Queen Elizabeth also has a Bentley State Limousine, according to Town & Country. It was made specially
for her 2002 Golden Jubilee so onlookers could get a better view of her. But, that isn't
her only Bentley. The car brand let her buy the first Bentley Bentayga when it came out
in 2015. It's the most expensive SUV in the world, but she can undoubtedly afford it.
It's also the fastest SUV out there so, who knows, maybe the queen likes to burn rubber
around her property. We won't judge.
Queen Elizabeth has so much art that she has an employee whose sole job is to take care
of it all.
The queen's assortment of art, known as the Royal Collection, includes about a million
paintings, books, furnishings, and other valuable items. This collection is not technically
owned by Queen Elizabeth herself, more so that it belongs to whomever is the monarch
at the time. Basically, it's hers until the end of her life.
According to The Guardian, some of Leonardo da Vinci's drawings are part of this epic
collection and while some of the artwork is archived, other pieces are actually on display
in royal residences. The site also mentions that thousands upon thousands of pieces of
the Royal Collection have been loaned to galleries and museums.
Ladies-in-waiting seem like something out of a historical drama, but they're still very
much a thing. Queen Elizabeth has ladies that she's chosen to assist her, according to the
Royal Household. In their position, they help Queen Elizabeth with her correspondence. The
ladies also go to events with the Queen and travel with her abroad.
Though they are there to help, she's not always patient with them.
"Shoo! Shoo! Go on! Go on!"
While in Cambridge to plant a tree with the National Institute of Agricultural Botany,
she was somewhat short with her lady-in-waiting. As she walked to the spot where she was going
to plant the tree, she remembered that she still had her purse on her arm. As seen in
the video the queen curtly holds out her bag for her lady to take. It's not easy working
for one of the most powerful women in the world!
Balmoral Castle, Queen Elizabeth's castle in Scotland, is worth $140 million, according
to Forbes. She spends part of her summer there every year, and it is reportedly her favorite
residence. The queen's granddaughter, Princess Eugenie, remarked in the documentary Our Queen
At Ninety,
"I think Granny is the most happy there. I think she really, really loves the Highlands."
She went on to say that there are usually dogs around during the monarch's summer break,
along with her family members who accompany her on vacation. When at Balmoral, the queen
spends time driving, horseback riding, and enjoying the great outdoors. The estate spans
50,000 acres, so there's no shortage of green space. In total, Balmoral is made up of 150
buildings, with plenty of gardens surrounding them.
How convenient would it be to have an ATM in your house? Well, perhaps only Queen Elizabeth
knows the answer to that question. The monarch has her very own money machine at Buckingham
Palace, installed around 2001.
As useful as the ATM may be, it may not be used all that often. The queen isn't thought
to keep cash on her person, save for one exception. She brings five pounds to church with her
every Sunday, as reported by Vogue.
The ATM isn't the only handy feature in the palace, there's also a post office inside,
so the Queen can knock out her to do list without having to leave home.
One of the most extravagant aspects of Queen Elizabeth's life is the fact that she has
an employee who breaks in her shoes for her. Her former royal dress designer Stewart Parvin,
confirmed to The Sunday Times that the Queen's shoes should always be comfortable so that
she doesn't waste time treating sore feet.
"As a matter of fact, it's how I think best, on my feet. You know I've never been one for
sitting around endlessly. Good walk and fresh air sorts everything out."
According to the publication, the queen's favorite shoes, known as her work shoes, are
her black, patent leather, loafer-style heels by Anello & Davide, although there's no telling
if she loves them because they're already perfectly broken in.
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