There is more good financial news for the Queen and her eventual successor, among the few beneficiaries of last week's spending review by George Osborne which cut billions off public spending.

The royals will indirectly benefit from the £200m extra that the Government will invest in offshore wind farms and in the port facilities needed to handle them. The seabed within Britain's territorial waters, which extend almost 14 miles from the coast, is owned by the Crown Estate. Operators pay rent to the Crown Estate for the right to run cables along the seabed, and they also pay out a percentage of the profit from the electricity generated.