Cheshire Property Sold By UK Queen-Should She Sell More Assets

Accounts published by the British Palace revealed that the Queen's reserve of public cash has fallen immensely over the last ten years, as a result of which she has had to sell her Cheshire property. The public cash has fallen from £35m to £1m over ten years; this is the money which the Queen uses to pay her increasing staff bills as well as fund her role as Head of State.

The property she has sold in Cheshire is a 16th century listed farmhouse, Hadley Hall, which nestles in 50 acres of Cheshire countryside. It went to auction by the Duchy of Lancaster and raised close to £1m in cash.

The Duchy of Lancaster is the Queen's national property portfolio which provides her with a private income. It is made of up 46,000 acres in England and Wales but in 2009 it lost one fifth of its value, equating to £75m.

The Duchy of Lancaster is also selling to agricultural plots of land, one of sixteen acres with a guide price of £90,000 and the other of 33 acres with a guide price of £150,000. Both of these are suited for farming or horses.

Royal critics feel it is high time that her Majesty used her immense private wealth to pay off her public debts. The maintenance of Buckingham palace alone has run up a bill of £40m. Both Balmoral in Scotland and Sandringham House in Norfolk are her Majesty's private homes and as far back as 2002 they had a combined value of £60m.

Both of these estates have been owned since the 19the century by the Royal Family. The Sandringham Estate has been owned since 1862 and is the much-loved country retreat of the Queen. It has 240 hectares of woodland and health, 24 hectares of beautiful gardens, as well as the house itself and a museum. It has fruit farms and livestock, residential and commercial properties and is run with the aim of being financially self-sufficient.

Balmoral was bought by Queen Victoria and Albert in 1848, at which stage they paid £30,000 for it and then the pioneering Albert embarked upon improving the castle which dated back to the 14th century. In 1852, they carried out the local traditional cairn building ritual. This tradition involves the laying of one rock onto another to create a mound. This establishes the claim to their land, then a piper plays and Victoria and Albert danced and drank whisky. Today Balmoral remains a favourite residence of Queen Elizabeth II.