As much of the United Kingdom prepares to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee from 2 June, it is as good a time as any to reflect on how the monarch's £14.1 billion Crown Estate portfolio and near £4 billion personal property portfolio have performed since she ascended to the throne 70 years ago.

First, and before we receive an angry letter from the Palace, it is critical here to distinguish between the Queen's personal real estate and the Crown Estate, which effectively manages the real estate owned by the monarch for as long as they reign.

For most of the past thousand years monarchs have used property to raise money for wars and other stratagems, Henry VIII dissolving the monasteries and taking their land for himself a prime example. Queen Elizabeth II has not, however, been involved in management decisions for an estate managed independently by others.

The Crown Estate is an independent commercial business, created by an Act of Parliament, and its job is to generate revenue for the government. Its relationship in fact began with the Monarch in 1760 when George III — of American Independence fame — ascended to the throne. Ever since, the net income has been surrendered to the Treasury by the monarch under successive Civil List Acts, passed at the beginning of each reign.

Nevertheless the estate is owned by the monarch in right of the Crown. That means the Queen owns it as long as she is on the throne, as will her successor. In law there also remains a presumption in favour of The Crown unless it can be proved that the land belongs to someone else.

So how much revenue does it produce? Over the past 10 years, since the Queen's last Jubilee, the estate has, according to the government's website, contributed £2.6 billion to the public purse, although the Crown estimates the figure at £3 billion. In the 10 years prior to that, from 2002 to 2012, it generated £2 billion, according to Crown Estate filings.

As of its results for the year ended 31 March 2021, the value of the portfolio was £14.4 billion, with 53.4% of that, or £7.7 billion, located in the capital and the rest spread between regional (£2.3 billion), marine (£4.1 billion) and the Windsor Estate (£0.3 billion). Revenue from London came in at £228.1 million, up 46.8% on the prior period, which like everything else took a severe pounding from the pandemic. Regional contributed £125.5 million, marine £120.8 million, and the Windsor Estate £12.5 million.

That is a near-doubling of the portfolio value in a decade, and one just hit by a global pandemic. Dial back 10 years to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, and as Her Majesty enjoyed Gary Barlow, Andrew Lloyd Webber, The Commonwealth Band and the Military Wives belting out a special song for the occasion, the portfolio was also rocking, at an overall value of £7.6 billion, with £5.5 billion coming from the urban estate. Overall revenue was £314.2 million producing a £240.2 million profit.

So what is in the portfolio? It now stretches across the country to include some of London's most famous shops, leisure and office space, regional retail and leisure destinations, and a substantial rural portfolio. It also manages the seabed and half the foreshore around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and has a focus on sustainable development, including the UK’s offshore wind sector. The Crown is also custodian of the Windsor Estate where the Queen most often resides, including Windsor Great Park. It also looks after one of Her Majesty's favourite spots on earth, Ascot Racecourse.

So what have been highlights in its development, particularly during the Queen's reign?

First of all, it was only named the Crown Estate in 1955, three years after the Queen ascended to the throne. A government committee recommended that to prevent people getting mixed up between government property and Crown land, the latter should be renamed The Crown Estate and should be managed by an independent board. These recommendations were implemented by the Crown Estate Acts of 1956 and 1961, which established The Crown Estate as it is today.

Under the Act of 1961, the estate is managed by a board with a remit to "maintain and enhance the value of the estate and the return obtained from it, but with due regard to the requirements of good management".

Significantly, the Crown owns most of Regent Street, which was developed by the Queen's ancestor, the Prince Regent, later George IV, close to 200 years ago. Though the street was rebuilt in the 1920s, the Grade II listed facades are still among the most famous and most visited buildings in England. It also owns much of the neighbouring St James's. The high-end area comprises a square mile of shopping, restaurants, residential property and offices.

It is no surprise than that some of the Crown's most exciting work during the Queen's reign has taken place in the area.

In 2002, it began a £750 million rejuvenation programme as it looked to modernise an area that had begun to look tired and unloved, and which it wanted to open up for international retailers and investment partners. The estate also wanted to rebalance its portfolio into more regional investment to generate more returns. The Crown is not able to borrow, so to free up capital for reinvestment in the estate and elsewhere, it went to market with a 25% stake in its Regent Street properties. In 2010 it signed a then-radical agreement for both parties that saw it sell the stake to Norwegian sovereign wealth fund Norges Bank Investment Management for £448 million.

The acquisition was Norges' first major transaction after it was allowed to invest in real estate, ushering in a period of substantial reinvestment of the country's oil riches in global property. Immediately, Norges agreed to help the Crown fund a £200 million retail and leisure investment called W4 on the west side of Regent Street. In 2017 Norges doubled its stake in the 20 Air Street development with the Crown to 50%.

A major drive during the Queen's reign has also been a move to become one of the UK's largest owners of retail property, particularly as it expanded into third-party joint venture investment relationships.

A stand out came in 2014 when it joined forces to buy Fosse Shopping Park in Leicester for £345.5 million in a 50:50 joint venture acquisition with China’s Gingko Tree Investment. The acquisition was the largest in The Crown Estate’s history and took its retail parks portfolio to 17 in places such as Newcastle, Aintree, Nottingham, Swansea, and Cheshire with a total capital value of over £1.2 billion. It also took its third-party funds managed in joint ventures to over £1 billion.

But the estate is by no means immune to the subsequent crash in retail values and the difficulties facing commercial property because of the pandemic, and the wider issues hitting stores.

In 2016, things appeared rosy, as it sold the Bath Road Shopping Park in Slough to Royal London Asset Management for £93.65 million while Morfa Shopping Park in Swansea was sold to Ashby Capital for £83.5 million. Later in 2016 the Crown delivered a record £304.1 million to the Treasury thanks to a jump in the value of its estate, as it pushed on with its largest development pipeline in its history.

Net profits rose by 6.7% on the previous year, as the estate benefited from £633.2 million of asset disposals, its growing offshore wind business and the regeneration of Regent Street and St James’s.

But tougher times for its retail portfolio were already looming and it is now pushing on with a major overhaul of the Estate's strategy and business.

In its results for the 2020-21 financial year, the Crown Estate said its performance in central London had been severely impacted by COVID-19, particularly among retail, dining and leisure customers. Average annual footfall on Regent Street was down around 75% on the previous year, and rent collection for the year had fallen to 85% including concessions granted.

The capital value of the London portfolio decreased from £8.4 billion to £7.7 billion, largely as a result of retail values falling across the market. The void rate for the portfolio had increased from 4.7% to 8.2%, in line with the rest of the market.

The Estate's new Australian boss Dan Labbad, a hugely respected figure in UK real estate from his period at Lend Lease but evidence of the Estate's increasing desire to look outside for ideas and experience, said the estate would be delaying payment of annual income to the Treasury, as well as launching the first phase of a wide-ranging new strategy as it shored up its cash buffers to cope with the pandemic-impacted shortfall in rents.

The value of the portfolio had then decreased by 1.2% to £13.4 billion, primarily as a result of the "challenging operational markets faced by our retail customers during the year, an issue which has been accelerated by COVID-19". This resulted in a revaluation loss of £552.5 million or 17% in its Regional portfolio. In response it began making staggered payments to the Treasury to ensure it had enough revenue reserves. The Crown also began working with restaurants "on a case by case basis" to determine how to support them as the pandemic continued.

In its most recent results, Labbad said the Estate recognised that what has underpinned its achievements to date would "not be the things that ensured our success for the future. In fact, without deep and wide-ranging change, parts of our portfolio would risk obsolescence, high volatility and a muted forecast for growth. We would also risk undermining trust and legitimacy with our customers and stakeholders."

As such it has produced a new mandate, "‘to create lasting and shared prosperity for the nation". It has zeroed in on three areas for change: "being a leader in supporting the UK towards a net-zero carbon future, helping to create thriving communities, and renewing urban centres in London and across the UK, and taking a leading role in stewarding the UK’s natural environment and biodiversity".

It is also reshaping how it organises itself and will operate as a single group business with four strategic business units: London, Regional, Marine and Windsor & Rural. It is also reviewing its systems and processes, and is undertaking a restructure across much of the business to improve its ways of working and bring in new skills and capabilities.

While the value of its total portfolio has increased year on year from £13.4 billion to £14.4 billion, a 7.5% increase, and its 12-month total return is 11.9%, outperforming its annual MSCI bespoke total return of -2.9%, the figures have been massively skewed by the strength of its increasingly profitable marine portfolio. That increased in value by £2.1 billion to offset a £1.1 billion decrease in capital values, predominantly as a result of the performance of its retail assets across its London and Regional portfolios, as the pandemic has accelerated structural trends in these markets.

Here the redevelopment of Regent Street to create a cleaner, greener and more accessible destination will be a critical focus. The future success of its regional retail holdings will depend on re-mixing and repurposing where conditions allow.

More broadly through its strategic land ownerships, it is reviewing the potential to take a more active role in exploring the portfolio’s mixed-use potential. In line with this approach it has continued to progress long-term plans for 350 hectares of land to the east of Hemel Hempstead, which forms part of the first phase of Hemel Garden Communities and has the potential to accommodate up to 1.75 million square feet of commercial space alongside approximately 3,100 new homes.

It has committed to becoming a net zero carbon business by 2030 and climate positive thereafter, aligning to the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Climate Agreement. It has also committed to what it termed "optimising the green energy potential" of the seabed which it manages around England, Wales and Northern Ireland, supporting the UK’s 2050 path to net zero.

Most recently it has launched a tender process for retail leasing agents across its entire London portfolio.

In a statement to CoStar News, the Crown Estate said the process would "support the new customer partnership team in achieving the strategy for the London portfolio, and the business more widely".

It said it would create an "exciting opportunity" to continue to attract "innovative brands, and concepts, creating a vibrant blend that is relevant for everyone – residents, commuters, visitors and businesses".

The Queen does own private real estate across the UK, including the Balmoral and Sandringham estates and Buckingham Palace, which are hers to deal with as she chooses. And they are worth a tidy £3.7 billion, according to research by retirement property home developer McCarthy Stone.

Buckingham Palace in London is the most expensive at an estimated £1.3 billion with second on the list St James’s Palace located in Westminster and then Windsor Castle, which are said to be worth £600 million and £580 million, respectively. Fourth spot is Kensington Palace - home to Prince William and Kate, which is worth £558.2 million and then London's Clarence House at £298.3 million. Balmoral in Scotland is valued at £60.3 million, and Sandringham Castle in Norfolk at £55.1 million.

Research from national UK estate agent Keller Williams UK has found that UK house prices have, once adjusted for inflation, risen by 377% since the Queen’s coronation in 1953 when the average UK house price was £1,884 which, when adjusted for inflation, is £53,794 in today’s money. The average UK house price is now £256,405.