Again, it’s Disclosure Week for the British monarchy. The end of June marked the end of the British tax year, and they waited until the Windsors were heading off for their three-month summer holiday to drop all of their financial disclosures, or their lack of disclosures in Prince William’s case. The big headline for Buckingham Palace is that they’re making even more money than ever, mostly from their vast royal real estate holdings and from wind farms on “royal” land. As such, the Sovereign Grant is increasing too.
King Charles is set for a huge £45m pay rise with an increase of more than 50% in his official annual income, official accounts reveal. Profits of £1.1bn from the crown estate – a percentage of which funds the monarchy – mean the sovereign grant, which supports the official duties of the royal family, will rise from £86m in 2024-25 to £132m in 2025-26.
The monarchy currently receives 12% of the crown estate profits to fund its work as well as to fund the 10-year, £369m renovation of Buckingham Palace. Royal aides said the increase will be used to complete the palace reservicing programme by 2027. The sovereign grant will be reviewed in 2026-27 to reassess the amount handed over to the palace and ensure it is an “appropriate level”.
The significant increase in the sovereign grant in 2025-6 and 2026-7 “will be used to fund the final stages of the Buckingham Palace reservicing programme, enabling it to be complete both on time and on budget,” said Michael Stevens, the king’s Keeper of the Privy Purse.
Once this is accomplished, he said “a reduction in the absolute amount of the sovereign grant will be sought as part of the royal trustees review in 2026-27, through primary legislation”, to ensure that the work of the royal family “continues to be funded at an appropriate level”.
Don’t hate me but I sort of understand the scheme they’re running and it makes sense to me? They’re telling the government to keep the Sovereign Grant percentage where it is for the time being because they’re still paying for the hugely expensive refurbishment/reno of Buckingham Palace, a decade-long undertaking. Now, it’s also funny because as soon as Charles saw all of that money coming in, he was like: we need new helicopters!!
King Charles is set to replace his 15-year-old helicopters this year as income from the Crown Estates soared to £1.1 billion last year.
The money is spent on running the royal household and helping the monarchy function effectively. One aspect funded by the grant is the family’s transport costs to formal engagements.
In total more than 170 helicopter journeys costing a total of over £1b were taken in the last year. The palace revealed that these will now be replaced with two brand new AgustaWestland AW139s.
Other areas the crown plans to invest in is the eco-friendly overhaul of the monarchy. Windsor Castle has already had solar panels installed while two of the King’s State Bentleys are being converted to run on biofuel.
Royal travel costs soared by hundreds of thousands of pounds last year despite fewer engagements due to the illness of the King and Princess of Wales, figures show. The Sovereign Grant report revealed travel expenditure went up by £300,000 at a bill of £4.2m despite there being around 400 fewer visits and less foreign travel than the year before.
I would guess that the travel costs rose because Charles and Camilla travel with so many staffers and there’s so much stage-management for all of their events. As for the new helicopters… if the choppers are really 15 years old, then yeah, they should be replaced. But I’m irritated that there’s not more energy towards forcing the Crown to disclose helicopter and private plane usage and miles logged.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.