Prince Charles is set to receive a huge pay rise of over 50% to £45 million a year, according to official reports.
The £1.1 billion profits from the Royal Estate – part of which goes to the Royal Household – will mean that the Sovereign Grant, which supports the Royal Services, will increase from £86 million in 2024-25 to £132 million in 2025-26.
The monarchy currently receives 12 percent of profits from the royal estate, which goes towards funding royal activities and the 10-year, £369 million renovation of Buckingham Palace. Royal aides have said the extra money will be used to complete the palace’s overhaul by 2027.
State funding will be reviewed in 2026-2027 to reassess the amount handed over to the palace to ensure it is at an “appropriate level”.
According to royal records, Prince Charles earned £23.6 million from the Duchy of Cornwall in his first year after inheriting land and assets from his father.
The duchy’s surplus funds cover the official, charitable and personal expenses of Prince Charles, Princess Diana and their three children, and Prince William, like his father, pays standard tax on his income after official expenses, aides said.
The significant increases in State funding for 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 “will be used to fund the final stages of the Buckingham Palace refurbishment programme, ensuring it is completed on time and within budget”, said Michael Stevens, the King’s private wealth officer.
Once this is achieved, he said, “an absolute reduction in State aid will be sought through major legislation as part of the Royal Trustees’ review in 2026-27” to ensure Crown work “remains funded at an appropriate level”.
Buckingham Palace’s annual accounts, published on Tuesday, cover the first financial year of the monarch’s reign, including the months after Prince Charles and Kate Middleton were both diagnosed with cancer and stepped back from public duties from January onwards.
Frogmore Cottage in the grounds of Windsor Castle remains empty after being renovated for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at a taxpayer-funded cost of £2.4 million – the costs of which have since been reimbursed to the public purse.
The Duke of York’s daughter, Princess Eugenie, lived there with her family after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex left the UK. It is now empty and there are no new tenants, aides confirmed.
There have been more than 2,300 official events by Members of the Royal Family in the UK and abroad this year, up from more than 2,700 last year.
Despite his cancer diagnosis, Prince Charles carried out 464 official engagements, of which 201 were performed by the Queen and 103 were joint engagements.
The report also found that £600,000 of the Sovereign Grant was spent on last year’s coronation and associated events, bringing the total cost of the Sovereign Grant to £800,000.
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This figure included internal costs such as personnel and receptions at the palace, as well as the cost of furniture and costumes that could be reused at a later date, such as the Imperial Crown and adaptations of the coronation outfits for the King and Queen.
Prince Charles’s income increase comes after profits from the Crown Estate, the national portfolio of historic and commercial land holdings, more than doubled from £443 million the previous year to £1.1 billion in 2023-24.
This was made possible by revenue from the sale of options and leases for offshore wind projects in the seabed around the British Isles. As the legal owner of the seabed, the Crown Estate is responsible for auctioning offshore wind rights.
The Crown Grant is paid by taxpayers in exchange for the King giving up income from Crown property and is calculated based on two years’ arrears.
The monarchy received a 25% cut in profits from the royal estate to cover official duties and renovation costs, but last year the government and the monarchy agreed to cut that to 12% in anticipation of big profits from the auction of offshore wind licenses. If the 25% formula had continued, the monarchy would have received £275 million in 2025-26.
A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) published on Tuesday said the palace renovation project was well managed but that the structural damage and asbestos discoveries that led to increased costs “could have been foreseen.” Net spending on the 10-year project at the end of March was £238.9 million, 65 percent of the budget, the report said.
Gareth Davies, director of the UK National Archives, said: “Updating decades-old plumbing, heating and electrical services, and adding new lifts and toilets in one of Britain’s most famous buildings is a significant undertaking that has been handled well so far.”
“Good planning and project management has meant the programme has operated within budget so far and responded well to challenges such as the pandemic. Risks remain as the programme winds down, but if these continue to be managed effectively the outcomes should be cost-effective.”
