From the Guardian website today.

The royal family stands to benefit from a huge windfall from the boom in offshore energy, potentially sparking a debate about funding the monarchy.

The Treasury has confirmed that an official review of the sovereign grant, which stands at £86.3m a year, is ongoing and is expected to come into effect from April next year. Officials say they want to ensure the funding is at “appropriate” levels.

Public finance for the royal household is paid as a fixed proportion of profits of the crown estate, the organisation that manages the crown’s public lands, including coastal and marine assets. These profits are now expected to rise significantly because of the drive by energy companies to harness wind power.

A Whitehall source said: “The review will take account of significant extra revenues that the crown estate expects to receive from the next phase of offshore wind developments – forecast to be several hundred million pounds each year while these projects are in development.”

The crown estate owns virtually all of the seabed around the UK to a distance of 12 nautical miles. The value of its marine portfolio is now worth £5bn, driven largely by demand for seabed leases for windfarms.

To them that have, it shall be given... (Matthew 13:12)

(Yes, yes, Bible scholars, I know...)