King Charles is set to receive £132m in funding next year after records showed Crown Estate profits hit £1.1bn for the second year running, driven by gains in offshore wind.
The rundown of royal finances, which covers the period from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, reveals the running costs of the monarchy as well as some plans for the future.
It included the revelation that the King would be bidding the “fondest of farewells” to the royal train, after approving its decommissioning following decades of service.
The accounts also showed the cost of the King and Queen’s Pacific tour last year.
Charles and other members of the royal family will rely on two new helicopters when the nine-carriage royal train stops running ahead of a maintenance contract ending in early 2027, according to the accounts.
James Chalmers, Keeper of the Privy Purse, described the move as an example of the royal household applying “fiscal discipline” in its drive to deliver “value for money”.
King Charles arrives via the Royal Train at Manchester Victoria Station in 2023 (Photo: Owen Humphreys/Pool via REUTERSThe King is said to have fond memories of the train, which features a carriage created for Charles in the mid-1980s which he still uses.
Mr Chalmers said: “The royal train, of course, has been part of national life for many decades, loved and cared for by all those involved.
“But in moving forward we must not be bound by the past.
“Just as so many parts of the royal household’s work have been 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.”
Prince Charles arrives on the Royal Train, pulled by a steam locomotive, at Cardiff Central Rail Station in in 2018 (Photo: Rebecca Naden/Reuters)The royal train was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth II and the late Duke of Edinburgh and was decorated and furnished to meet the needs of senior royals.
In 2020 William and Kate made a 1,250-mile train journey over three days to thank key and frontline workers and communities for their efforts during the pandemic.
The cost of storing and maintaining the train against its level of use, and the amount of investment needed to keep the train running beyond 2027 were included as reasons for decommissioning it.
It added that the new helicopters were reliable alternatives.
Queen Elizabeth II works at her desk on the Royal Train in May of 2002 (Photo by Anwar Hussein/Getty Images)Mr Chalmers said the train is likely to make further visits to parts of the UK before it goes out of service, and that some of it may be able to go on display.
The royal family have enjoyed rail travel since the day Queen Victoria made her first trip in a specially made carriage from Slough to London Paddington.
Victoria’s grandson King George V installed one of the first baths on a train during the First World War as he toured the UK to boost morale.
To mark Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 British Rail provided a new royal train that featured a Queen’s saloon or carriage with a bedroom, sitting room and bathroom and a separate bedroom and bathroom for her dresser.
In the mid 1980s the fleet was updated and new carriages were added including one used by the King, then the prince of Wales, and now the train has nine carriages, seven royal and two support.
Costs of travel revealed
The annual accounts showed that for the last financial year royal travel increased by £500,000 to £4.7m.
That amount was largely due to the King and Queen’s charter flight to Samoa and a scheduled flight back to London, which totalled £400,500.
The King and Queen, pictured here at the Sydney Opera House, made a royal visit to Australia and Samoa last year (Photo: Victoria Jones/PA Wire)The trip was part of a nine-day tour to Australia and the Pacific island, in which the King also attended his first Commonwealth heads of government meeting.
Other travel costs included a charter flight to and from Belfast and helicopters around Northern Ireland in March, which cost £80,100.
Separately, payroll costs were up £2m to £29.9m.
The Sovereign Grant, which pays for the royal family’s official duties and the upkeep of royal palaces, is met from public funds in exchange for the King’s surrender of the revenue from the Crown Estate, two years in arrears.
Accounts were also released for William’s Duchy of Cornwall, which provides him with a private income of nearly £23m and has launched a policy review of the rents it receives from charities and grassroots community groups.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s former home, Frogmore Cottage, remains empty for a second year after they officially vacated the property in 2023.
It is understood their are no immediate plans for Harry and Meghan’s UK base, a gift from Queen Elizabeth II close to Windsor Castle, that they were asked to leave just weeks after the duke criticised his family in his controversial memoir Spare.
The £86.3m Sovereign Grant includes £34.5m to fund the Buckingham Palace Reservicing Programme.
Workers are eight years into the decade-long reservicing initiative costing £369m to improve fire and safety and replace heating and electrics, which is said to be on track and has updated the palace’s east wing where the royal family watch major events from the balcony.
State banquets will move from the palace’s ballroom to Windsor Castle for the next two years as work progresses and the lavish state rooms will come off and then online as contractors complete the final two years, expected to cost £100m of the total.
‘Action to protect climate’
The Sovereign Grant accounts also revealed a number of green initiatives.
They include the conversion of the first of two official Bentleys to run on bio-fuel with the second transitioning this year, increased use of sustainable aviation fuel for royal flights, including for helicopter travel, and 84% of royal household waste being recycled.
It also details priorities for the coming year, including “taking action to protect climate and nature in everything we do and encouraging others to do the same”.
The report says the King will also focus on “caring for and sharing the tradition, art, buildings, landscapes and artefacts of the UK so they can be enjoyed for generations to come,” the Telegraph reported.
Calls for better scrutiny
Graham Smith, chief executive officer of Republic, called on the Government to take responsibility for reporting the costs of the monarchy.
He said: “The Irish president costs around £5m a year. The cost of the monarchy could be slashed to well below £10m.
“It’s time the Duchies were taken off royal hands, and it’s time these figures were released by Government to parliament, where they can be properly scrutinised.”
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