How many work
The philistine notions that members of the royal families do nothing special and only “bathe in luxury”, of course, have little to do with reality.
First, they do. The working hours, for example, of members of the Windsor family are given an idea of the data released on January 27 by the press service of Buckingham Palace. Most of all other relatives of Queen Elizabeth II, her daughter Princess Anne was busy with affairs in 2020 – she worked 145 days, holding 148 events and meetings. The next busiest is Prince Charles, who worked 141 days and held 146 meetings. Elizabeth II herself is also not at all retired: last year she worked 130 days, taking part in 136 events.
Secondly, royal life is not nearly as luxurious as it might seem. The cost of maintaining the same Windsor family (or, as the British often say, maintaining a “firm”) in the 2019/20 tax year was £ 69.2 million. That much is, for example, a rare 1963 Ferrari 250 GT or a fairly average Hollywood blockbuster. At the same time, the Windsors are also constantly criticized – since 2016, the cost of their maintenance per British taxpayer has tripled – from 65 pence to two pounds a year.
The monarchies of continental Europe are even more modest. According to official reports, the “lush” courtyard – in Monaco – spends about $ 55 million a year. The royal court of the Netherlands costs taxpayers $ 50 million, the monarchs of Sweden – $ 16.5 million, Belgium – $ 14 million a year. The Danes have been allocating about $ 12.5 million a year for the maintenance of their monarchs in recent years, and the Spanish court received less than $ 10 million from the country’s budget in 2020.
The income of royal families, of course, is not limited to payments from the budgets – a significant part is made up of income that comes from family assets, in particular real estate. However, there is still not enough for a truly royal life (in its philistine view). It is not surprising that many members of royal families, especially not the most, let’s say, key ones, tend to have additional income. “This is definitely a trend,” says Sandy Loder, founder of AH Loder Advisers. “The reasons are simple: responsibility and cost.”
Loder’s firm deals, among other things, with the inheritance of multimillion-dollar family capital. “A large family is a reputational risk and is expensive to maintain,” says Loder. “Many of my clients, who are between 18 and 40 years old, fly private jets and go to superyacht parties. At the same time, they do not even have minimal skills to work, for example, in an office, not to mention an understanding of how to do business. ” Therefore, Loder encourages blue-blooded people to gain work experience.
One of the most popular industries for royal millennials is the fashion industry. It is actively involved, in particular, the eldest grandson of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Prince Nicholas William Alexander Frederick (he is the sixth in line to the Danish throne), Lady Amelia Sophia Theodora Maria Margaret Windsor (39th in line to the British throne), Her Royal Highness Maria Olympia, Princess of Greece and Denmark, as well as Archduchess of Austria and Princess of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia, Eleanor von Habsburg.
Associated with the world of fashion is His Royal Highness Sawai Padmanabh Singh, a polo player and member of the former ruling family of Jaipur in present-day Rajasthan. In addition to running the runway and filming advertisements, this millennial prince also leases out through Airbnb part of the family palace, built in 1727. The Gudliya Suite, which is offered to guests, included, among others, Prince Charles with the Princess of Wales and Oprah Winfrey. A driver, butler and private pool are included with the royal dinner and breakfast. Price per night – $ 8000.
However, not all members of the royal families are eager to be in sight, many prefer to remain behind the scenes. For example, the German princess Elisabeth von Thurn y Taxis works as a guest editor at American Vogue and writes columns for local publications. In addition, being a staunch Catholic, she wrote the liturgical work Faith of the Children: Praise for the People’s Devotion, which was published in German and Italian. And Princess Tatiana of Greece and Denmark worked as a PR consultant and event organizer at Diane von Furstenberg.
Popular with royal millennials and owning a particular brand of clothing, footwear or accessories. Thai princess Sirivannavari Nariratana launches clothes under the Sirivannavari brand. Grace Kelly’s granddaughter Pauline Ducruet designs for her unisex brand Alter Designs (she also represented Monaco at the 2010 Singapore Summer Youth Olympics in diving). Princess Talita Natasha von Fürstenberg launched her own youth line in 2019 under the brand of her grandmother Diana von Fürstenberg (in addition to fashion, she is interested in politics: a student at Georgetown University who studies international relations, in 2016 she trained at the campaign headquarters of Hillary Clinton).
A couple more exotic examples. Prince Nikolai of Greece and Denmark once worked under a pseudonym as a production assistant at Fox News, and now he is engaged in environmental photography. And the Norwegian princess Martha Louise, daughter of the incumbent King Harald V and Queen Sonya, paired with her chosen one, traveled the world with spiritual lectures and sold them under the Princess and the Shaman brand until the family banned the use of the title.
“Many members of royal dynasties themselves do not want their fellow citizens to perceive them as people who live at the expense of the state,” concludes Loder. “And those who are not in the top three contenders for the throne often just want to live a normal life.”
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