Royal Wedding Notes

Hi!-

Last week's royal wedding between England's Prince William and Catherine "Waitie Katie" Middleton, now Duchess of Cambridge, drew millions of viewers across the globe, including 22.8 million here. The wedding offered a dose of royal pageantry for every little girl who grew up idolizing Disney princesses. And it offered a rare peek inside the fabled life of the world's most glamorous royals.

England's economy is struggling just like ours, so the royal family took pains not to burden the Exchequer (that would be "taxpayers" to us Yanks) with an expensive wedding. While the total cost has been estimated at $30 million, the royals themselves paid for everything but security for the event. (This doubtless came as a great relief to the parents of the bride.)

While the Queen enjoyed a great reason to show off last week, she's not actually as wealthy as most people imagine. Forbes magazine ranks her personal net worth at "just" $450 million, 12th among the world's royals. That's because she doesn't really own Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, the Crown Jewels, or the Royal Collection. They're held in trust and can never be sold. The "Crown Estate," which dates back to 1066, generates income of about £110 million/year. However, the Queen turns that income over to the government in exchange for about £40 million in "Head of State" expenses.

The Queen's own assets consist mainly of Balmoral Castle in Scotland, Sandringham House near Norfolk, smaller jewelry and art collections, and one of the world's great stamp collections (built up by her father and grandfather). She also makes about £12.5 million/year from her holdings as Duchess of Lancaster. Since 1992, she's voluntarily paid tax on her income, at regular rates up to 50%. (A spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace told London's Telegraph earlier this week that "the Queen's personal wealth has always been vastly exaggerated." But let's make no mistake here, folks - it's still good to be the Queen!)

Here on our side of "the pond," we treat our President to many of the same privileges as England's royals enjoy. The White House isn't quite as grand as the Queen's digs (just 55,000 square feet versus 830,000 for Buckingham Palace). There aren't any Crown Jewels to speak of, although the First Lady could probably borrow something nice from Tiffany's. And the President tools around town an armored Cadillac, as opposed to the Queen's custom Bentley.

But here in America, our President is more open about his income. Last month, the Obamas posted their Form 1040 on the White House website. For 2010, they reported $1,728,096 in adjusted gross income, mainly from book sales. They claimed $373,289 in deductions, including $245,075 in charitable gifts. And they paid $453,770 in actual tax. Those numbers already sound big to most Americans. But the real money won't come in until Obama leaves office. Former President Clinton reported $109 million in income between 2000 and 2007, and former President George W. Bush makes $150,000 for a single speech (plus first-class airfare or private jet transportation for a party of four).

What do you think? Should the Queen post her tax returns online for all the world to see? Should the Obamas be jealous that the Queen has a bigger house? Should the Queen share some of her jewels with her former colonists? American taxpayers might not mind a little bit of royal trappings - but they sure don't want to pay the bill!