How much does the royal family really cost the UK?
Newly published sovereign grant accounts reveal how much the King and Queen get from the Crown Estate - and how much from the taxpayer.
The royal household will spend £100 million of public money on Buckingham Palace in the next two years as the King hopes to finish the renovation work on time and on budget. It means that more than a quarter of the overall budget of £369 million will be spent on the final phase of the ten-year “reservicing” project.
Newly-released accounts show that the royal family received £86.3 million last year, the same amount as the previous three years. Of that, £51.8 million was provided for the core grant and an additional £34.5 million was given to cover the work on Buckingham Palace.
Work during the past year has included the installation of almost nine miles of electrical cabling and more than 12 miles of mechanical pipework, while two new lifts have been constructed in the west wing to improve accessibility.
However, that annual income is set to rise to £132.1 million per annum for this year and next. The temporary uplift will give the royal household an extra £91.6 million. Together with £8.3 million and a surplus held in reserve, it will make £100 million available to complete the work at the palace.
The sovereign grant, which comes from the Exchequer, is calculated as a percentage of the profits received from the Crown Estate.
Publishing the royals’ annual accounts, James Chalmers, the keeper of the privy purse who took on the role this year, said that the past financial year had been “something of a return to normal business after the health challenges faced by members of the family in the previous fiscal year”.
It has been a full financial year since Charles returned to public-facing duties after his cancer diagnosis. The Princess of Wales has made a more staggered return to her official royal role after months of chemotherapy last year. While the King’s treatment is continuing, he has started travelling again, leading to rising travel costs. Chalmers said: “Soft power is hard to measure but its value is, I believe, now firmly understood at home and abroad, as the core themes of the new reign have come into even sharper focus, and the royal family have continued in their service to the nation, realms and Commonwealth.”
Meanwhile, the Prince of Wales has taken a pay cut from the income he receives from the Duchy of Cornwall, down to £22.8 million from £23.6 million the year before. The prince was said to be overseeing “an era of deep change” after being criticised for multimillion-pound deals with public bodies including the Ministry of Defence.
It follows an investigation by The Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches programme in November into the Duchy of Cornwall and the Duchy of Lancaster estate, which provides a private income for the King, which reported rental agreements worth millions of pounds with the armed forces, the NHS and state schools.
Addressing the “media scrutiny” of the duchy after reports that it had set high rents, Will Bax, secretary and keeper of the records, said that rent would be waived for grassroots organisations, such as the Scouts, while local charities would have their rent halved.
Public bodies, including the Ministry of Defence, will be expected to continue to pay rent at commercial rates, although Bax said that a review may lead to rent for schools being cut.
For the second year running Kensington Palace declined to put a figure on the amount of tax paid by Prince William although Ian Patrick, the prince’s private secretary, said: “The Prince of Wales pays the highest rate of income tax.”
The Prince and Princess of Wales will soon be in a position to give companies a financial boost as Buckingham Palace announced that the King had granted the couple the right to issue royal warrants.
William’s private income from the Duchy of Cornwall is separate to the sovereign grant, which was first introduced in 2012 as a means of funding the official running of the royal household.
The grant, which replaced the former civil list funding, will rise by 53 per cent next year as a result of higher Crown Estate profits.
A previously unknown case of asbestos was discovered during the reservicing work at Buckingham Palace which added £1.84 million to the cost of the project. Asbestos removal has cost £2.2 million in total since work began.
Inward state visits, such as that by President Macron of France this month and President Trump in September, will move to Windsor Castle while the work continues at Buckingham Palace. Guests may notice that the castle is ready for its more high-profile role after £605,000 was spent this year to landscape its east terrace garden. Accounts show the money was spent on “a complete relandscaping of the old rose bed layout to introduce a new flowing pathway design with extensive hedging allowing future enhanced public access”.
Two orchard areas with wildflowers have also been introduced while a lead roof was replaced, at a cost of £804,000 and plate heat exchangers, which provide heating and hot water, cost £917,000.
Like many households in the country, the palace has been hit by the rising cost of utilities.
The royal household paid £1.9 million in rates and council tax over the past year. Its electricity bill has more than doubled in the past four years, from £800,000 in 2021 and rising to £2.6 million this year.
During that time, water costs have remained steady at about £200,000 while expenditure on gas was £1.1 million last year, compared with £500,000 in 2021.
Staff costs rose by £2 million this year with the royal household spending £29.9 million on salaries and wages compared with £27.9 million the previous year. Employee costs have risen considerably since the King came to the throne, rising more than £6 million since 2022.
Housekeeping and hospitality costs also rose, from £4.2 million to £4.7 million.
Overall, 54 per cent of the workforce are women. Ethnic minority employees make up 12.1 per cent of staff, up from 11.4 per cent the previous year. However, aides refused to be drawn on whether they felt confident that they would reach a self-imposed target of 14 per cent by the end of the year.
Chalmers said: “The past year saw investment in leadership and management development, alongside enhancements to recruitment processes, which have helped the royal household move towards the 14 per cent ethnic diversity target it set for December 2025, with an increase from 11.4 per cent last year to 12.1 per cent this year.”
He added: “Our mean gender pay gap stands at 2.2 per cent, against a national average of approximately 13 per cent, while our proportion of female employees has increased slightly year on year to 54 per cent.”
Buckingham Palace said that the royal household was “continuing to electrify our vehicle fleet with one of two official state Bentleys converted to run on the latest forms of bio-fuel and the remaining car scheduled for transition this year. There has been an increase in the use of sustainable aviation fuel for royal flights, including helicopter travel. Palace staff said that 84 per cent of the waste produced by the royal household was recycled.
The accounts cover the 12 months from April 1, 2024.
To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register
Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout