Royal Bounty is a pioneering study of the monarchy's social role and its influence in the institutional and civic life of Britain from George III to the present. Drawing on previously unused material from the Royal Archives and elsewhere, the book opens a rich vein in the history of the monarchy which has hitherto received scant attention. Full of revealing insights and novel information (including the precise annual charitable donations of the Queen herself and other members of the royal family), the book illuminates the transformation of the idea of nobility and the centrality of charitable service in the monarchy's survival. Elegantly written, wry, and handsomely illustrated, it will appeal to everyone interested in voluntarism, social policy, the monarchy and its future.