Judging from some Tweets I've received this morning there seems to be a great deal of misunderstanding about the money given to Queen Elizabeth II - what is known as The Civil List.

Up until now, each year the monarch has handed over money from The Crown Estate to the government (in 2009/2010 this came to £211million). In return she has received money from the government to run the monarchy and the royal households. From 2001 she received £7.9million (and that had not changed in 2011) plus £22million to run the royal palaces. The queen does not own Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle herself, neither does she own the art collections etc. She does own other property and has investments from which she pays her own private expenses. She also pays taxes.

From 2013, this arrangement will be scrapped and there will be a new arrangement with the Queen receiving part of the money from the Crown Estate, the remainder going to the treasury. She has cut back on the number of people in the royal family who receive money from the Civil List already.

The Crown Estate dates from the days of William the Conqueror and is run as a business by a board of trustees.

A fuller explanation of how the royal household works is on www.royal.gov.uk

If anyone is to sit in judgment of the Royal Family, then it's best that they have all the information available.