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Brexit threatens subsidies for UK's landed gentry and the Queen

The privileged classes have legal status as farmers, and are on the dole for EU farm subsidies

Sandringham, England

IT IS A club that includes some of the world's richest people. There are dukes, sheikhs, flamboyant entrepreneurs - even Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family.

What they have in common besides ownership of some of Britain's finest estates - adorned with stately homes, manicured gardens and, sometimes, racing stables - is their legal status as farmers, which means they are on the dole for European Union farm subsidies.

The queen's idyllic 8,000-hectare estate at Sandringham is among the huge holdings supported by the annual payouts, receiving more than US$675,000 in European farm subsidies last year (down from US$975,000 the year before).

But that could be about...

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