Civil List

A civil list is a list of individuals to whom money is paid by the government. It is a term especially associated with the United Kingdom and its former colonies of Canada and New Zealand. It was originally defined as expenses supporting the monarch. Morocco has a civil list defined in its constitution of 1996.

In the United Kingdom, the Civil List was, until 2011, the annual grant that covered some expenses associated with the Sovereign performing their official duties, including those for staff salaries, State Visits, public engagements, ceremonial functions and the upkeep of the Royal Households. The cost of transport and security for the Royal Family, together with property maintenance and other sundry expenses, were covered by separate grants from individual Government Departments. The Civil List was abolished under the Sovereign Grant Act 2011.

Following the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688, the expenses relating to the support of the monarch were largely separated from the ordinary expenses of the State managed by the Exchequer. This was a reaction to the reigns of Charles II of England and James II of England (also known as James VII of Scotland), whose large revenues had made them independent of Parliament.

In 1697, Parliament under William and Mary fixed The Crown's peacetime revenue at £1,200,000 per year; of this about £700,000 was appropriated towards the Civil List. The Sovereigns were expected to use this to defray some of the costs of running the civil government (such as the Civil Service, judges' and ambassadors' salaries) and the payment of pensions, as well as the expenses of the Royal Household and the Sovereign's personal expenses. It was from this that the term "Civil List" arose, to distinguish it from the statement of military and naval expenses which were funded through special taxation.

...
Wikipedia