The Billion-Dollar Property Portfolios Of The Royal Family

Like most British families, the royal family has its time-honoured Christmas traditions: The holidays are usually spent at Queen Elizabeth’s country estate, Sandringham. There, before and after a hearty Christmas dinner, it is said dinner guests are invited to step on to a set of scales to assess their weight gain, a scene re-created in the 2021 movie “Spencer,” which imagines events at a royal Christmas at Sandringham in the early 1990s.

Unlike most British families, the royals, with 19,768 acres of grounds at Sandringham to explore, won’t have to worry about getting a break from their relatives during holidays. And Sandringham is only the tip of the royal property-portfolio iceberg, which includes castles, palaces, country houses, townhouses, city apartments, cottages and farmhouses.

Putting a definitive value on these homes is difficult if not, in some cases, impossible. Most have never been sold and have instead been passed down through generations of the royal family. The family fiercely guards its privacy and won’t even comment on basic facts like the size of some of their private homes. But experts and real-estate agents suggest the family’s property holdings, or property they effectively own through trusts and other legal entities, are certainly worth billions, rather than millions, of dollars. David McClure, an expert on royal finances and author of “Royal Privilege: The Queen’s True Worth,” believes that their royal heritage would also add a major premium to the properties, over and above any value established based on sales of comparison properties, of which there are often none.

“There is the land value, the value of the buildings, and then there is the cachet, the royal history, which makes them very difficult to value,” he said. “But if you look at auctions where royal items have come up for sale, they regularly sell for three or four times the estimate.”

Buckingham Palace, London, England

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Details: The queen’s official London residence. According to the Royal Collection Trust (RCT), which manages public visits to the palace, the palace started life as a large townhouse bought by King George III in 1761 for US$27,790 (or A$8.37 million today). During the 19th century, it was remodelled and enlarged and now measures around 77,000sqm.

Did you know: According to the royal family’s official website, the palace has 775 rooms, including a roughly 38-metre long ballroom and London’s largest private backyard.

Value: Sophie Durkin, regional director of Portico estate agents, estimates that the palace is worth up to A$1.846 billion.

Succession: The palace is held in trust by the Crown Estate for the use of the reigning monarch. It will pass from the queen to Prince Charles when he becomes king.

Windsor Castle, county of Berkshire, England

Details: William the Conqueror began building a timber castle just west of London in about 1070, according to the RCT. In the late 12th century, King Henry II rebuilt it in stone. It now has around 1,000 rooms and reportedly measures 44,965sqm, with around 13 acres of grounds.

Did you know: During World War II, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret moved to Windsor. There, they would take shelter in the “beetle-infested” dungeons during air raids, according to their former nanny, Marion Crawford, in her book, “The Little Princesses.”

Value: An estimated $922 million, according to Sophie Durkin, regional director of Portico estate agents.

Succession: The castle is held in trust by the Crown Estate. It will pass from Queen Elizabeth to Prince Charles when he becomes king.

Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland

Details: This palace was originally a monastery founded around 1128. It features royal chambers which King James IV began converting into a palace in the early 16th century. Relatively compact by royal standards, it measures 8093sqm with some 289 rooms, according to RCT.

Did you know: Mary, Queen of Scots, moved to the palace in 1561, according to the RCT. Four years later, she witnessed her husband, Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, murder her secretary, David Rizzio, in a jealous rage.

Value: The most expensive property currently for sale in Edinburgh’s Old Town neighbourhood is a three-bedroom apartment listed at offers over $2.08 million, or $1158.6 per square foot. On that basis, the palace could be worth around $100 million.

Succession: The palace is held in trust for the reigning monarch by the Crown Estate, which means that it will pass from Queen Elizabeth to Prince Charles upon her death.

Hillsborough Castle, Northern Ireland

Details: This building isn’t actually a castle but a grand, late-18th-century townhouse, according to Historic Royal Palaces, the charity that manages Hillsborough Castle. It was sold in 1925 to the British Government for around US$31,771 (or $2.75 million in today’s money) as a home for Britain’s political leadership in Northern Ireland. It includes state apartments for use by the reigning monarch.

Did you know: In 1985, the Anglo-Irish Agreement, brokered by Ronald Reagan, was signed in the castle’s state drawing-room marking an early step in the peace process between England and Ireland, according to HRP.

Value: Unknown. The British Government won’t confirm the value or even the square footage of the building.

Succession: The palace is owned by the British Government. Although technically the state apartments are earmarked for the use of the monarch, many members of the royal family on official business stay there.

Balmoral Castle and Estate, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Details: In 1852, Prince Albert bought the 50,000-acre Balmoral Estate for his wife, Queen Victoria. He then commissioned a new castle with a reported 50 bedrooms to accommodate the royal family and their entourage.

Did you know: There are around 150 individual buildings on the estate. These include Birkhall, formerly home to the Queen Mother and since taken over by Prince Charles, and the modest house that Queen Victoria had built for her highland servant, John Brown. Their friendship was the subject of the 1997 film, “Mrs. Brown.”

Value: Around $92.35 million, according to David McClure, an expert on royal finances and author of “Royal Privilege: The Queen’s True Worth.”

Succession: Queen Victoria bequeathed Balmoral to her son, King Edward VII. It has passed from monarch to monarch ever since, and is now privately owned by Queen Elizabeth.

Sandringham Estate, county of Norfolk, England

Details: This Georgian country estate was bought in 1862 by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a rural getaway for their 21-year-old son, later King Edward VII, according to information provided by the Sandringham Estate. The original house on the estate was replaced with a larger property during the late 19th century. Anmer Hall, home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Prince William and Kate Middleton), is on the estate.

Did you know: Princess Diana was born at Park House, another home on the estate that had been leased to her parents.

Value: $92 million to $110 million, according to David McClure, an expert on royal finances and author of “Royal Privilege: The Queen’s True Worth.”

Succession: King Edward VII left the estate to his son, King George V, who bequeathed it in turn to his son, King Edward VIII. When he abdicated, it was bought by his brother, King George VI—the royal family has never revealed the price—who left it to his daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.

Highgrove House, county of Gloucestershire, England

Details: The country home of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall. It was bought by Prince Charles through his private estate, the Duchy of Cornwall, in 1980, a year before his marriage to Princess Diana. In 2005, an investigation by the Public Accounts Committee, which examines public spending in the U.K., reported it had cost US$1.145 million (or A$7.01 million in today’s currency). Since then, the environmentally friendly Prince Charles has developed its 347 acres of grounds, adding 15 acres of gardens and an organic farm. According to Marcia Moody, author of “Harry: A Biography,” the house has nine bedrooms, eight bathrooms, four reception rooms, and a nursery wing.

Did you know: Willow ramps have been placed in three fountains in Highgrove’s gardens to offer a means of escape for any wildlife that falls in.

Value: Around $55.39 million, according to David McClure, an expert on royal finances and author of “Royal Privilege: The Queen’s True Worth.”

Succession: The Duchy of Cornwall was established by King Edward III in 1337. Its revenue is at the disposal of the Prince of Wales, currently Prince Charles, who also holds the title of Duke of Cornwall. Prince William is next in line.

Clarence House, London, England

Soldiers from the Coldstream Guards in the grounds of Clarence House, Prince Charles’s London home.

Details: Clarence House is a white plaster townhouse built between 1825 and 1827. It is the official London residence of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.

Did you know: Clarence House was the first London home of Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh. They lived there from 1947 until she became queen in 1952 and they furnished it with their wedding gifts.

Value: Approx. $460 million, according to Sophie Durkin, regional director of Portico estate agents.

Succession: The house is held in trust for the reigning monarch by the Crown Estate. Prince Charles lives there with the permission of the queen. When he becomes the king, he will take over Buckingham Palace, and be able to decide who should get the run of Clarence House.

Duchy of Cornwall, county of Cornwall, England

Details: In 1337, King Edward III established a private estate to provide his son and heir with financial independence. The duchy and the title, Duke of Cornwall, has been passed down to the heir to the throne ever since. Its revenue is used to finance Prince Charles and his family, and its property holdings are vast. They include 130,125 acres of farmland, forests, coastline, and residential and commercial properties. In addition to Highgrove, the estate includes a large section of the Isles of Scilly, an archipelago of 200 islands off the coast of the English county of Cornwall, where Prince Charles has a portfolio of holiday cottages and regularly vacations.

Did you know: The duchy owns several ruined castles, including the 13th-century Launceston Castle.

Value: According to its 2021 annual report, the Duchy of Cornwall holds net assets worth $1.77 billion.

Succession: The Duchy of Cornwall will be inherited by the next heir to the throne, Prince William.

Llwynywermod, county of Carmarthenshire, Wales

A property at Llwynywermod, the Welsh estate owned by Prince Charles. PHOTO: CHRIS JACKSON/POOL/GETTY IMAGES

Details: Prince Charles bought this 18th-century farmhouse with 192 acres for $1.59 million in March 2007 through the Duchy of Cornwall. The small estate includes two cottages that are used as holiday rentals.

Did you know: Trees used to decorate Westminster Abbey during the 2011 wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton are now planted outside Llwynywermod.

Value: Around $5 million, according to buying agent Carol Peett, managing director of West Wales Property Finders.

Succession: As part of the Duchy of Cornwall, the estate will be passed on to Prince William.

Viscri and Zalánpatak, Romania

A bedroom at Prince Charles’s rural home in Zalánpatak, Romania. PHOTO: ALEX ROBCIUC/COUNT KALNOKY TIBOR

Details: Prince Charles bought and restored a three-bedroom, two-bathroom cottage in the village of Viscri, a World Heritage Site, in 2006 through one of his charities, The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation. Two years later, the charity bought a five-bedroom, five-bathroom home with a guest cottage in the village of Zalánpatak, which is surrounded by forests and flower meadows.

The Zalánpatak properties are rented out in his absence, and Prince Charles visits most summers, while the Viscri house is used as a traditional crafts centre.

Did you know: Transylvania’s most famous son is Vlad the Impaler, the bloodthirsty 15th-century inspiration for the fictional character of Dracula. In a 2011 documentary, “Wild Carpathia,” Prince Charles claimed he could be related to the warlord.

Value: Clarence House has never revealed the cost of the properties. Their current value is also unknown.

Succession: Unknown.

PARIS —Paris has long been a byword for luxurious living. The traditional components of the upscale home, from parquet floors to elaborate moldings, have their origins here. Yet settling down in just the right address in this low-rise, high-density city may be the greatest luxury of all.

Tradition reigns supreme in Paris real estate, where certain conditions seem set in stone—the western half of the city, on either side of the Seine, has long been more expensive than the east. But in the fashion world’s capital, parts of the housing market are also subject to shifting fads. In the trendy, hilly northeast, a roving cool factor can send prices in this year’s hip neighborhood rising, while last year’s might seem like a sudden bargain.

This week, with the opening of the Olympic Games and the eyes of the world turned toward Paris, The Wall Street Journal looks at the most expensive and desirable areas in the City of Light.

The Most Expensive Arrondissement: the 6th

Known for historic architecture, elegant apartment houses and bohemian street cred, the 6th Arrondissement is Paris’s answer to Manhattan’s West Village. Like its New York counterpart, the 6th’s starving-artist days are long behind it. But the charm that first wooed notable residents like Gertrude Stein and Jean-Paul Sartre is still largely intact, attracting high-minded tourists and deep-pocketed homeowners who can afford its once-edgy, now serene atmosphere.

Le Breton George V Notaires, a Paris notary with an international clientele, says the 6th consistently holds the title of most expensive arrondissement among Paris’s 20 administrative districts, and 2023 was no exception. Last year, average home prices reached $1,428 a square foot—almost 30% higher than the Paris average of $1,100 a square foot.

According to Meilleurs Agents, the Paris real estate appraisal company, the 6th is also home to three of the city’s five most expensive streets. Rue de Furstemberg, a secluded loop between Boulevard Saint-Germain and the Seine, comes in on top, with average prices of $2,454 a square foot as of March 2024.

For more than two decades, Kyle Branum, a 51-year-old attorney, and Kimberly Branum, a 60-year-old retired CEO, have been regular visitors to Paris, opting for apartment rentals and ultimately an ownership interest in an apartment in the city’s 7th Arrondissement, a sedate Left Bank district known for its discreet atmosphere and plutocratic residents.

“The 7th was the only place we stayed,” says Kimberly, “but we spent most of our time in the 6th.”

In 2022, inspired by the strength of the dollar, the Branums decided to fulfil a longstanding dream of buying in Paris. Working with Paris Property Group, they opted for a 1,465-square-foot, three-bedroom in a building dating to the 17th century on a side street in the 6th Arrondissement. They paid $2.7 million for the unit and then spent just over $1 million on the renovation, working with Franco-American visual artist Monte Laster, who also does interiors.

The couple, who live in Santa Barbara, Calif., plan to spend about three months a year in Paris, hosting children and grandchildren, and cooking after forays to local food markets. Their new kitchen, which includes a French stove from luxury appliance brand Lacanche, is Kimberly’s favourite room, she says.

Another American, investor Ashley Maddox, 49, is also considering relocating.

In 2012, the longtime Paris resident bought a dingy, overstuffed 1,765-square-foot apartment in the 6th and started from scratch. She paid $2.5 million and undertook a gut renovation and building improvements for about $800,000. A centrepiece of the home now is the one-time salon, which was turned into an open-plan kitchen and dining area where Maddox and her three children tend to hang out, American-style. Just outside her door are some of the city’s best-known bakeries and cheesemongers, and she is a short walk from the Jardin du Luxembourg, the Left Bank’s premier green space.

“A lot of the majesty of the city is accessible from here,” she says. “It’s so central, it’s bananas.” Now that two of her children are going away to school, she has listed the four-bedroom apartment with Varenne for $5 million.

The Most Expensive Neighbourhoods: Notre-Dame and Invalides

Garrow Kedigian is moving up in the world of Parisian real estate by heading south of the Seine.

During the pandemic, the Canada-born, New York-based interior designer reassessed his life, he says, and decided “I’m not going to wait any longer to have a pied-à-terre in Paris.”

He originally selected a 1,130-square-foot one-bedroom in the trendy 9th Arrondissement, an up-and-coming Right Bank district just below Montmartre. But he soon realised it was too small for his extended stays, not to mention hosting guests from out of town.

After paying about $1.6 million in 2022 and then investing about $55,000 in new decor, he put the unit up for sale in early 2024 and went house-shopping a second time. He ended up in the Invalides quarter of the 7th Arrondissement in the shadow of one Paris’s signature monuments, the golden-domed Hôtel des Invalides, which dates to the 17th century and is fronted by a grand esplanade.

His new neighbourhood vies for Paris’s most expensive with the Notre-Dame quarter in the 4th Arrondissement, centred on a few islands in the Seine behind its namesake cathedral. According to Le Breton, home prices in the Notre-Dame neighbourhood were $1,818 a square foot in 2023, followed by $1,568 a square foot in Invalides.

After breaking even on his Right Bank one-bedroom, Kedigian paid $2.4 million for his new 1,450-square-foot two-bedroom in a late 19th-century building. It has southern exposures, rounded living-room windows and “gorgeous floors,” he says. Kedigian, who bought the new flat through Junot Fine Properties/Knight Frank, plans to spend up to $435,000 on a renovation that will involve restoring the original 12-foot ceiling height in many of the rooms, as well as rescuing the ceilings’ elaborate stucco detailing. He expects to finish in 2025.

Over in the Notre-Dame neighbourhood, Belles demeures de France/Christie’s recently sold a 2,370-square-foot, four-bedroom home for close to the asking price of about $8.6 million, or about $3,630 a square foot. Listing agent Marie-Hélène Lundgreen says this places the unit near the very top of Paris luxury real estate, where prime homes typically sell between $2,530 and $4,040 a square foot.

The Most Expensive Suburb: Neuilly-sur-Seine

The Boulevard Périphérique, the 22-mile ring road that surrounds Paris and its 20 arrondissements, was once a line in the sand for Parisians, who regarded the French capital’s numerous suburbs as something to drive through on their way to and from vacation. The past few decades have seen waves of gentrification beyond the city’s borders, upgrading humble or industrial districts to the north and east into prime residential areas. And it has turned Neuilly-sur-Seine, just northwest of the city, into a luxury compound of first resort.

In 2023, Neuilly’s average home price of $1,092 a square foot made the leafy, stately community Paris’s most expensive suburb.

Longtime residents, Alain and Michèle Bigio, decided this year is the right time to list their 7,730-square-foot, four-bedroom townhouse on a gated Neuilly street.

The couple, now in their mid 70s, completed the home in 1990, two years after they purchased a small parcel of garden from the owners next door for an undisclosed amount. Having relocated from a white-marble château outside Paris, the couple echoed their previous home by using white- and cream-coloured stone in the new four-story build. The Bigios, who will relocate just back over the border in the 16th Arrondissement, have listed the property with Emile Garcin Propriétés for $14.7 million.

The couple raised two adult children here and undertook upgrades in their empty-nester years—most recently, an indoor pool in the basement and a new elevator.

The cool, pale interiors give way to dark and sardonic images in the former staff’s quarters in the basement where Alain works on his hobby—surreal and satirical paintings, whose risqué content means that his wife prefers they stay downstairs. “I’m not a painter,” he says. “But I paint.”

The Trendiest Arrondissement: the 9th

French interior designer Julie Hamon is theatre royalty. Her grandfather was playwright Jean Anouilh, a giant of 20th-century French literature, and her sister is actress Gwendoline Hamon. The 52-year-old, who divides her time between Paris and the U.K., still remembers when the city’s 9th Arrondissement, where she and her husband bought their 1,885-square-foot duplex in 2017, was a place to have fun rather than put down roots. Now, the 9th is the place to do both.

The 9th, a largely 19th-century district, is Paris at its most urban. But what it lacks in parks and other green spaces, it makes up with nightlife and a bustling street life. Among Paris’s gentrifying districts, which have been transformed since 2000 from near-slums to the brink of luxury, the 9th has emerged as the clear winner. According to Le Breton, average 2023 home prices here were $1,062 a square foot, while its nearest competitors for the cool crown, the 10th and the 11th, have yet to break $1,011 a square foot.

A co-principal in the Bobo Design Studio, Hamon—whose gut renovation includes a dramatic skylight, a home cinema and air conditioning—still seems surprised at how far her arrondissement has come. “The 9th used to be well known for all the theatres, nightclubs and strip clubs,” she says. “But it was never a place where you wanted to live—now it’s the place to be.”

With their youngest child about to go to college, she and her husband, 52-year-old entrepreneur Guillaume Clignet, decided to list their Paris home for $3.45 million and live in London full-time. Propriétés Parisiennes/Sotheby’s is handling the listing, which has just gone into contract after about six months on the market.

The 9th’s music venues were a draw for 44-year-old American musician and piano dealer, Ronen Segev, who divides his time between Miami and a 1,725-square-foot, two-bedroom in the lower reaches of the arrondissement. Aided by Paris Property Group, Segev purchased the apartment at auction during the pandemic, sight unseen, for $1.69 million. He spent $270,000 on a renovation, knocking down a wall to make a larger salon suitable for home concerts.

During the Olympics, Segev is renting out the space for about $22,850 a week to attendees of the Games. Otherwise, he prefers longer-term sublets to visiting musicians for $32,700 a month.

Most Exclusive Address: Avenue Junot

Hidden in the hilly expanses of the 18th Arrondissement lies a legendary street that, for those in the know, is the city’s most exclusive address. Avenue Junot, a bucolic tree-lined lane, is a fairy-tale version of the city, separate from the gritty bustle that surrounds it.

Homes here rarely come up for sale, and, when they do, they tend to be off-market, or sold before they can be listed. Martine Kuperfis—whose Paris-based Junot Group real-estate company is named for the street—says the most expensive units here are penthouses with views over the whole of the city.

In 2021, her agency sold a 3,230-square-foot triplex apartment, with a 1,400-square-foot terrace, for $8.5 million. At about $2,630 a square foot, that is three times the current average price in the whole of the 18th.

Among its current Junot listings is a 1930s 1,220-square-foot townhouse on the avenue’s cobblestone extension, with an asking price of $2.8 million.