The Queen has one of the largest property empires in Europe - with a portfolio worth billions of pounds. But among the castles, estates and palaces she also owns a few places you perhaps wouldn't expect.
They include pubs, public toilets and motorway service stations - and some of the unlikely acquisitions are right here in Greater Manchester. Over the years the Queen has owned the land occupied by Altrincham Retail Park, currently home to a B&M Bargains, Sports Direct, Boots and The Range, a bungalow on a cul-de-sac in Ramsbottom and the old Oldham County Court building.
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A little further afield she also owns the Tabley House estate near Knutsford, which is home to St Peter's Church, the setting for Tommy Shelby's wedding in the third Series of Peaky Blinders, parts of the promenade at Blackpool and renowned gastro pub The Inn at Whitewell in the Forest of Bowland. Elsewhere the 96-year-old monarch also owns Regent Street in London's West End, and more than half the UK's entire seashore.
The sovereign, who last weekend celebrated her Platinum Jubilee, can hold property in several ways. There is private property belonging to the Queen personally - such as Balmoral and Sandringham House, which has been passed down for generations - and the land she owns in right of her Crown as the Crown Estate.
It is one of Europe's largest property groups, in charge of real estate worth more than £15billion. But the question of who owns the Crown Estate is complex.
The company's website explains: "The Crown Estate belongs to the reigning monarch 'in right of the Crown,' that is, it is owned by the monarch for the duration of their reign, by virtue of their accession to the throne. But it is not the private property of the monarch — it cannot be sold by the monarch, nor do revenues from it belong to the monarch."
The Crown Estate is managed by an independent organisation and every year its profits - which totalled £269.3m in 2021 - are given to the British government 'to create lasting and shared prosperity for the nation'. But 25 per cent of the profits are given back as part of the Sovereign Grant, which is used to fund the Royal Family.
But what does the Crown own in the north west? Data from 2019 showed that across the region it owned 1,183 plots of land including mineral rights, rights to gold and silver, agricultural land and a number of properties.
These are the properties bought and sold by the Crown Estate in Greater Manchester and surrounding areas over the last few years...
- Altrincham Retail Park, Broadheath, Trafford
- 4 Brookside Close and 29 Springwater Avenue in Ramsbottom, Bury
- Oldham County Court
- Part of Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet
- Land on the north of Coronet Way, Eccles
- Part of the M6 and the Motorway Service area near Bay Horse, Lancaster
- Land and buildings on the East side of Upholland Road
- The Holly, Leagram, Preston
- Lancaster Castle
- Land and buildings on the north side of East Lancashire Road, Worsley
- Chester Castle
- Public toilets at Dunsop Bridge, Clitheroe
- Racecourse Retail Park, Aintree
- The Inn at Whitewell, Clitheroe
- Barthomley Service Station, Crewe
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