How the UK Queen makes money

Even the Queen is having trouble managing her budget in austerity Britain. Last month it was revealed that Queen Elizabeth II’s rainy day fund was down to its last million.

A report by the Public Accounts Committee revealed the Queen’s advisers were failing to control her finances while the royal palaces were “crumbling”. Both Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle are reported to be in urgent need of repair with staff routinely catching rain in buckets to protect art and antiques. 

As recently as 2001 the Queen’s “reserve fund” was at a healthy £35million but now stands at a paltry £1million. MPs blamed the Royal Family’s advisers for overspending.

Don’t feel too sorry for the Monarch though. Queen Elizabeth II’s rainy day fund may be looking a bit lame but she’s worth a lot more than that – £320million according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2013.

Where does all this money come from?
Firstly, there’s property – the Queen has one of the largest property empires in the world. 

The Queen’s holdings include Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands, Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Kensington Palace. The Crown Estate, the company that owns and manages the sovereign’s land, also owns large swathes of London’s Regent Street, the Royal Parks, Ascot racecourse and 106,000 hectares of farmland. There are also stud farms, a fruit farm and marine land throughout the UK. 

The Crown Estate is managed by an independent organisation on behalf of the Government. From April 2012, 15% of the profit from The Crown Estate goes to the Sovereign Grant (which partly funds the Queen), with the rest going to the Treasury.

Other royal assets include an extensive art and fine jewellery collection, and one of the world’s largest stamp collections built by the Queen’s grandfather

Although estimates of The Queen’s wealth include the royal assets, these are not her private property – she can’t sell them. Instead they are held by her as Sovereign on behalf of the nation and they will eventually be passed on to her successor.

So where does HRH’s spending money come from?
The Queen essentially receives an income in three main ways: The Sovereign Grant, the Privy Purse and The Queen’s personal wealth and income.

The Sovereign Grant came into existence in April 2012 and replaced the old way of funding the Royal family through the Civil List and various Government grants. The Sovereign Grant is equal to 15% of the profits from the Crown Estate from two years previously

The Sovereign Grant was worth £31million in the year 2012-13 but the Royal Household’s net expenditure was £33.3million, hence the Queen needing to dip into her reserve fund to make ends meet.

However, Royal finances should be back on track soon. With the Crown Estate booming (it made a profit of £ 253million last year), the Sovereign Grant is £36.1 million for the tax year 2013-14 and set to rise to £37.9 million in 2014-15.

Out of this cash, the Queen must carry out her official duties, and maintain the “occupied” Royal Palaces: Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace, Clarence House, Marlborough House Mews, Windsor Castle, the buildings in the Home and Great Parks at Windsor, and Hampton Court Mews and Paddocks.

What’s in the Privy Purse?
The next source of income for the Queen is the Privy Purse. This is a historical term used to describe income from the Duchy of Lancaster. It’s used to meet both official and private expenditure by The Queen.

The Duchy of Lancaster is a portfolio of land, property and assets held in trust for the Sovereign. It’s administered separately from the Crown Estates and generally used to meet official expenses incurred by other members of the Royal Family. In the financial year ending 31st March 2013, it was valued at £429 million. However the Queen can’t get her hands on the capital of the portfolio, just revenue profits. This secured her an income of £12.5million in 2012-13.

The Duchy of Cornwall is yet another property portfolio held in trust, this time to meet, in part, the expenses of the monarch's eldest son and various members of his family. Prince Charles receives revenue from it to pay for his official activities, as does Camilla as Duchess of Cornwall, William and Kate (The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge) and Prince Harry.

The estate was valued at £763million last year providing Charles with private income of about £19million.

The Queen’s third source of funding is her personal income. This comes from her personal investment portfolio and private estates. The Queen personally owns the Balmoral and Sandringham Estates, which were both inherited from her father. The Queen’s private income is used to meet her “private expenses”.

So, what does the Queen spend her money on? It’s mostly official duties such as travel for official engagements in the UK and abroad; the maintenance of Royal residencies; funding for the work of The Duke of Edinburgh which supports and complements that of The Queen; and salaries for employees of the Royal Household.

Culled from: uk.finance.yahoo.com

Time! Time!! Time!!!

M-orning + A-fternoon + N-ight = MAN, And you wonder why God created timing first before man,

And you wonder why man has to live 120 years on earth as maximum with your clock ending at 12:00
And you wonder why Ecclesiastes 3 speaks about time
And you wonder why Your wrist does not have a wrist-watch right now
And you wonder why Africa has been left behind in terms of growth and development because we created our own time called AFRICAN-TIME which is suicidal.
Study Time Management today and see as you will have a stimulated growth in life. Time is Money as Trust is a Social-capital.

So tell friends or family, time is my life, if you waste my time you are indirectly wasting my life.

Wow: Hillsong's 'Alive' Hits #1 on Christian Billboard Charts for Third Week

This is one of my favorite song by Hillsong "Alive" from album young and free many youth loved it see the video below.

Six months ago the world had never heard of Young & Free, yet Hillsong Church's newworship sound is now on top of the world, with their first single 'Alive' hitting No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Christian AC for the third week running. (http://www.billboard.com/biz/charts/christian-chr)

While Hillsong's music is played and sung in churches globally, the new youth sound of Young & Free was a bold new direction, and a dramatic shift from what people knew and loved.

Between 'Alive' and 'Back To Life', Young & Free has been at the top of TRAA/TCM chart in Australia for 18 weeks, and the Billboard Hot AC success of "Alive" has confirmed the album's global status.

"Our first album is a message and a movement. Our songs are the expression of our love for Jesus Christ straight out of the heart of our Youth Ministry here at Hillsong Church," says youth pastor Laura Toggs.

However, she said they were genuinely humbled by the success and grateful to everyone who has supported the new team.

"We really wanted to make sure that we captured the sound of our current youth generation," Toggs says. " The best part about this, is that these songs seem to have transcended age, culture, language and even denominational boundaries. See video below:

"Our feedback about 'Alive' is that it enables people to celebrate life and freedom that can only be found through faith in Jesus Christ."

Source: charismamag.com

Do you Know the Signs?

Many times, we misinterpret others and they also misinterpret us. Why is this so? 

When we communicate with others, there are non-verbal nuances (e.g. tone of voice) that punctuate our words and when the recipient does not know how to accurately decode these non-verbal cues, misinterpretation may occur. 

When communicating with the Holy Spirit, it is not just enough to understand the pattern through which He communicates with us, it is also very important to be able to understand the exact thing He is saying to us. If our obedience will hold any water, then we have to hear Him CLEARLY, else, we may find ourselves doing what He has not asked us to do, though we heard Him speak to us. If we must hear Him clearly, then we must sharpen our decoding skills. 



We all agree that no matter how well an individual can manipulate a vehicle, he/she cannot be considered a good driver, neither will there be any commendation for him/her, if the ability to read traffic signs is not present. Imagine such individual does not know that RED means STOP, there is a risk of running red light and probably killing someone in the process. If he/she stops when the sign signals GO with GREEN, there is the risk of being bashed from behind or causing traffic jam thereby constituting a nuisance to road users. If there is no understanding of what AMBER stands for, there is always the risk of making one mistake or the other.

It's of no use being able to hear the Holy Spirit when He speaks, if the ability to decode Him clearly is absent. We will hear Him alright but we may misinterpret Him, and what disaster that will be! We will stop when He asks us to go and go when He asks us to stop. We will not understand when He's prompting us to wait or when He's asking us to take action. We will only make guesses that are far from being accurate.

The Bible has a record of a certain tribe in Israel, gifted in decoding the signs. 
"From the tribe of Issachar, there were 200 leaders of the tribe with their relatives. All these men understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take." 1 Chronicles 12:32 (NLT)

Did you see that? They understood the signs and therefore knew the course of action. Understanding the signs gave them an accurate judgement of what to do. It is crucial for us to understand the signs! We must crave to know the Holy Spirit so intimately such that we can pick on His communication cues ever so easily. That way we will not be grasping at straws in the bid to understand His instructions for us. We will not be confused about what action to take per time. 

May we receive grace and ability to know and understand the Holy Spirit's language. Amen

Shalom! –By Ayotunde.

Learn: Never EVER Talk Bad Of Your Husband To Anyone!!!

Wow! someone out there might need this! “Biyi hasn’t worked for that long?” Dayo’s voice drips with resentment. “For real?” “He’s been trying,” I say in feeble attempt to defend my husband. “You know how the economy is.” …My husband and I had vowed never to bring in a third party into our relationship but with a bank account screaming for revival, I need to share my burden with someone else.

I grip the phone. Dayo is unusually quiet. “You still there?” I ask. “Hello?” “I am here,” she says. “I just didn’t know things were this bad. And all this while, I thought Biyi was providing for the home.” But he is, I argue silently. Well, maybe not financially for now, but in every way else, Biyi is a rock. “It’s not that bad.” My words sound frail. Dayo clucks her tongue. “You might as well be a widow.” The words hit me like a fist. “Na you I blame,” she continues, oblivious to the damage her words

Baby Delivered Inside 'Sac' Behaved as still in womb (PHOTO)

It looks like movie trick or call it miracle, a doctor has recorded the moment he delivered a baby inside an intact amniotic sac.  God is great!

The photo was taken by Obstetrician, Aris Tsigris after he delivered a baby through caesarean section. He uploaded the photo on Facebook.

According to the doctor, because the sac had not been punctured, the baby did not even realise it had been born and behaved as if it was still inside the mother’s womb.

The amniotic sac is a bag of fluid inside the womb where the unborn baby develops and grows. It is also referred to as the ‘membranes’, because the sac is made of two membranes called the amnion and the chorion. The sac is filled with clear, pale fluid, in which the unborn baby floats and moves.

The fluid helps to cushion the baby from bumps and injury, as well as providing them with fluids that they can breathe and swallow. The fluid also maintains a constant temperature for the baby.

The amniotic sac starts to form and fill with fluid within days of a woman conceiving.

Amniotic fluid is mainly water but from about week 10 onwards, the baby passes small amounts of urine into the fluid. 

Source talkofnaija.com

Inspirational: Everyone Should Watch This At Least Once

This video is SO powerful. We are all amazing people. Disabled mannequins will be eliciting astonished looks from passers-by on Zurich’s Bahnhofstrasse today. Between the perfect mannequins, there will be figures with scoliosis or brittle bone disease modelling the latest fashions. One will have shortened limbs; the other a malformed spine. The campaign has been devised for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities by Pro Infirmis, an organisation for the disabled. Entitled “Because who is perfect? Get closer.” it is designed to provoke reflection on the acceptance of people with disabilities. Director Alain Gsponer has captured the campaign as a short film. SHARE with friends and family. This is such a great message. See the Pics & video below it so poweful:

Get more from petflow.com and pics from theinspirationroom.com