The Queen is poised to receive a 5% income boost after the Crown Estate announced a record profit of £253m. The Crown Estate, whose profits are linked to the monarch's income, owns a property portfolio including Regent Street, Windsor Great Park. It also manages the UK's coastal waters.

Profits were up 5.2% on last year, a welcome boost for the public accounts, as all Crown Estate profits flow into Treasury coffers.

The Sovereign Grant will rise next year from £36.1m to £37.9m. This funds the Queen's spending as head of state and is calculated as a percentage of Crown Estate properties.

The return on the estate's £8.1bn portfolio was 11.3%, comfortably outperforming the property industry benchmark of 9.9% for the fifth year running.

The Crown Estate, created in 1760 when George III handed over the management of the country's lands and coastal waters to parliament, has returned more than £2bn to the Treasury over the past decade. With urban properties worth £5.9bn, the estate has benefited from having prime locations, where high-end shops have defied the recession.

As well as Regent Street, these include St James's in the West End, which will benefit from a £500m redevelopment plan over the next decade to brighten up shops and offices. The estate owns 15 retail parks across the country, including sites in Liverpool, Swansea and Nottingham.

Another jewel in its portfolio is the Windsor estate, set in 6,400 hectares (15,808 acres) of parkland, forest and housing, which delivered a £7.1m return for the Treasury. As part of a recent effort to diversify its portfolio, the public body has energy and infrastructure projects worth £564m, an 8.2% rise in value on the previous financial year. The estate controls the world's largest offshore windfarm, with 175m turbines that can power nearly half a million homes.

"Today's results are a ringing endorsement of the quality of our portfolio, our active asset management and our highly skilled team," said Alison Nimmo, chief executive of the Crown Estate.