A look inside the Queen's 6 lavish royal residences

The Royal Family has come under fire after it emerged that Buckingham Palace would be undergoing £369 million of renovations. While the Queen's administrative residence attracts millions of tourists every year and is undoubtedly a national icon, the news has left many wondering what taxpayers' money is truly being spent on.

According to the Sunday Times Rich List, the Queen has an overall fortune of around £340 million. We revealed last week that a lot of this is spent maintaining her various properties, as well as other important things like helicopters.

She also owns land. Lots of land. The Queen is the owner of the Duchy of Lancaster private estate, which includes swathes of central London and much of rural England and Wales.

What's more, she's the legal owner of the Crown Estate, which is now a private company, but still pays the Queen 15% of its profits via the Treasury. The Crown Estate owns almost all of Regent Street and the entirity of the UK seabed up to about 12 miles off shore - the company is valued at around £11.5 billion.

In short, the Queen "owns" immense amounts of property, but she couldn't sell most of it if she wanted to.

Of her entire portfolio, her prime properties are split between four "official residences" and two privately-owned residences - passed down from her father, George VI. It's in these six opulent houses that the Queen spends almost all of her time.