How much does the royal family really cost the UK?

Of the income received from public funds last year, £51.8 million was provided for the core grant while £34.5 million was given to cover the work on Buckingham Palace.

Publishing the annual sovereign grant accounts, James Chalmers, the new 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” following the King’s ill health.

It has been a full financial year since Charles returned to public-facing duties after his cancer diagnosis. His treatment continues but he has been making foreign visits again, leading travel costs to rise.

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.”

In the annual accounts the King appears to have reframed his role.

Under the heading “Head of Nation” the palace says that Charles is “focusing on four themes”. They are given as: national unity, community impact, environmental sustainability and cultural heritage.

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.

Addressing the “media scrutiny” of the Duchy following reports of high rents that it set, Will Bax, the secretary and keeper of the records, said that it was removing rent for grassroots organisations such as the Scouts. However, public bodies, including the Ministry of Defence, will continue to pay rent at commercial rates.

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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, however, could soon be giving hundreds of firms a financial boost as Buckingham Palace confirmed that the King now granted them the right to issue royal warrants.

William’s private income from the Duchy of Cornwall is separate to the sovereign grant, which was introduced in 2012 as a means of funding the official running of the royal household.

So, what do the figures reveal about how much the royal family really costs the public purse?

The royal train

The King will decommission the royal train by 2027 after spending nearly £78,000 on two trips in the past year, Buckingham Palace has announced.

A two-day trip to Kemble, Burton on Trent and Euston for the 80th anniversary of the JCB world headquarters in February cost £44,822, while a two-day visit last May from Windsor to Crewe and Kemble to visit the Bentley headquarters and St Paul’s community centre cost £33,147.

In comparison, a nine-day visit by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh to Nepal on scheduled flights cost the public £26,028.

Scrapping the royal train, which requires regular, specialised maintenance work, is estimated to save the royal household about £1 million a year.

Chalmers said: “The royal train has, of course, been a part of national life for many decades, loved and cared for by all those involved, but in moving forwards we must not be bound by the past. Just as so many parts of the royal household’s work have modernised and adapted to reflect the world of today, so too the time has come to bid the fondest of farewells, as we seek to be disciplined and forward-looking in our allocation of funding.

“With His Majesty’s support, it has therefore been decided that the process to decommission the royal train will commence next year, in anticipation of the expiry of the current maintenance programme in March 2027. Before it finally goes out of service, it is our hope that the train will make further visits to parts of the UK, while discussions will begin on finding a long-term home where some particularly historic elements might go on public display.”

The royal train has nine carriages, the most recent of which were last updated in the 1980s. Rather than modernise them, a decision was made by the King, with the support of Prince William, that it should be taken out of service.

Queen Victoria was the first monarch to travel by train when she travelled from Slough to London Paddington on 13 June, 1842. She wrote of her inaugural journey that “the motion was very slight, & much easier than the carriage, also no dust or great heat, in fact, it was delightful and so quick”.

Elizabeth II and the late Duke of Edinburgh recreated the journey in 2017 to mark its 175th anniversary.

George V made some updates to the train during his reign, installing the first bath on a train as he used it to travel across the country to boost morale during the First World War.

In 1977 British Rail built new carriages for Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh to mark the late Queen’s silver jubilee. The most recent additions were carriages added in 1986.

The Duchess of Sussex, accompanied the Queen on the royal train in 2018 on a journey to Runcorn, Cheshire.

Although the King is said to be fond of the royal train, it is not expected to cause the same upheaval as the decommissioning of the royal yacht Britannia during his mother’s reign. Elizabeth was seen to shed a tear in 1997 when she attended a service to decommission the royal yacht, which had hosted the royal family on many holidays and is now open to the public as a museum.

Other travel

Royal travel increased by £500,000 to £4.7 million, up 12 per cent from the previous year and the highest since the Covid-19 pandemic.

British public funds were used to fund 50 per cent of the Australia state visit.

The British and Australian governments split the air travel bill for the King’s visit in October.

The cost of an Australian state visit would ordinarily be paid by Australia, of which the King is head of state, but the British government contributed because the King and Queen were travelling on to Samoa after leaving Sydney.

The visit to Australia and Samoa, where the King attended the Commonwealth heads of government meeting, cost Britain £400,535.

Of the total costs, £1.6 million was spent on helicopter travel, making it the most expensive form of travel.

Detailing journeys that cost under £17,000 each, palace accounts show that 141 helicopter trips cost £475,290, while £598,053 was spent on 55 charter flight journeys, £125,838 was spent on other scheduled flights and £89,528 was spent on train tickets.

Palace accounts show that the leasing of two new helicopters in the past financial year also posed an accounting “risk”.

Upkeep

A previously unknown case of asbestos was discovered during the reservicing work at Buckingham Palace, which cost £1.84 million to remove. Asbestos removal has cost £2.2 million in total since work began.

State visits to the UK, such as those by President Macron in July 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 high-profile role after £605,000 was spent this year to landscape the east terrace garden. Accounts show the money was spent on “a complete re-landscaping 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 been created.

A lead roof was replaced at the castle, costing £804,000, and plate heat exchangers, which provide heating and hot water, cost £917,000.

Utilities

The royal household paid £1.9 million in rates and council tax in the past year.

Its electricity bill has more than doubled in the past four years, from £800,000 in 2021 to £2.6 million in 2025.

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.

Payroll

Staff costs rose this year. The royal household spent £29.9 million on salaries and wages compared with £27.9 million the previous year.

Employee costs have risen considerably since the King acceded the throne, up by more than £6 million since 2022.

Housekeeping and hospitality costs rose from £4.2 million to £4.7 million.

Overall, 54 per cent of the workforce were women. Ethnic minority employees made up 12.1 per cent of staff, up from 11.4 per cent the previous year. 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.”

Going green

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.

And 84 per cent of the waste produced by the household is now recycled.