Record profits from the crown estate mean King Charles III is set for a significant pay increase. Image source: HM Government, via Wikimedia Commons.
King Charles III will receive a £45 million GPD ($87 million) pay rise, an increase worth over 50 per cent of his official annual income.
The royal family currently receives 12 per cent of profits from the crown estate to fund the sovereign grant, an annual payment that covers the monarchy’s official duties.
Last year, the proportion given to the monarch was reduced from 25 per cent to 12 per cent of crown estate profits.
However, as the crown estate made a record £1.1 billion ($2.1 billion) profit in 2023–24, the sovereign grant will rise from £86 million ($168 million) to £132 million ($257 million) in 2025–26.
Keeper of the Privy Purse Michael Stevens said the increased sovereign grant will “be used to fund the final stages of the Buckingham Palace reservicing program, enabling it to be complete both on time and on budget.”
Stevens said the sovereign grant will be reassessed in 2026–27 to reduce the amount given to the royal family and ensure they continue “to be funded at an appropriate level”.
The annual royal accounts, released on Tuesday 23 July, cover the first full financial year of Charles’s reign.
According to the report, £600,000 ($1.1 million) was spent on the king’s coronation and surrounding events last year.
Official royal travel expenses also rose from £3.9 million ($7.6 million) to £4.2 million ($8.2 million).
Former Liberal Democrats MP Norman Baker told the Mirror, “This is staggering but just shows how out of touch our royals are.”
“They… don’t care how much public money they spend… and are totally hypocritical when it comes to climate change, which they say they care about,” said Baker.
“This figure will not be made up of £2 bus fares, that’s for sure. It will comprise carbon-busting private jets and helicopters.”
Anti-monarchy campaign group Republic’s CEO Graham Smith said in a statement, “People rightly complain about the cost of the Rwanda scheme over the last two and a half years, yet we have spent more over the same period on the royals.”
“By comparison, the Irish president costs about 4 million euros ($6.5 million), a fraction of the cost for someone doing a similar job, but someone elected and accountable to do it,” said Smith.
“We do not owe the royals a living, we do not owe them palatial homes, private helicopter travel, or lives of leisure and luxury.”
