Monarchy to get £45m funding boost as Crown Estate profits reach £1bn | UK News

From a bumper income on the way for the royal family, to the king’s new solar panels and helicopters, and Prince William keeping his Duchy of Cornwall staff alert on WhatsApp, it was all revealed in the annual royal finance report.

Annual accounts showed that the monarchy is set to receive a boost of more than £45 million in its funding, with a 53% jump in its official annual income in 2025/2026, to £132 million.

Rising Crown Estate profits to £1.1 billion in 2023/2024 means the taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant supports the official functions of the real familyit will remain at £86.3m in 2024/2025 but will jump to £132m the following year.

It was after the Crown Estate’s financial figures showed profits had increased this year – the Sovereign Grant is always based on funds two years in arrears.

It was announced last year that funding from the monarchy would be transferred from 25% to 12% of the Crown Estate’s net profits due to increased revenue expected from the estate’s new offshore wind business. King called for profits from the wind farm to be used for the wider public good.

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Buckingham Palace’s annual accounts – which cover the first full financial year of the king’s reign – were published on Wednesday, after being delayed for a month because of the general election.

Calling for greater transparency, Graham Smith, of the anti-monarchy campaign group Republic, said: “We don’t owe royalty a living, we don’t owe them palatial homes, private helicopter trips or lives of leisure and luxury.

“The only reason the price of royalty is so high is because the monarchy is corrupt. They abuse taxpayer trust day after day, taking our money to spend on their own private lifestyle.”

Travel has again attracted attention with the Sovereign Grant report also revealing that the royal family will receive two new helicopters in 2024-25 to replace existing 15-year-old ones.

Despite the King’s commitment to protecting the environment and a royal source in 2022 saying that Prince Charles was “quite allergic” to traveling by helicopter, the two new AgustaWestland AW139s, which will partly use sustainable aviation fuel, have been described as a “key component” in allowing the King and Royal Family to carry out their engagements in remote areas of the UK.

King’s State Bentleys are also being converted to run on biofuel next year, with the aim of switching to a fleet of official electric cars in the future. Solar panels have been introduced at Windsor Castle for the first time. And Buckingham Palace’s gas lanterns, which were switched off during the recent energy crisis as a cost-cutting measure, are being repurposed with specially designed electrical fittings. Despite this work, greenhouse gas emissions have increased slightly, due to increased travel and electricity consumption.

Official travel costs increased slightly by £300,000, from £3.9 million to £4.2 million. The most expensive trip was the King and Queen’s visit to Kenya on a charter flight in October, together with the separate staff planning visit on scheduled flights, which amounted to a total of £166,557.

A three-day state visit to France, with trips to Paris and Bordeaux, by Charles and Camilla by charter flight in September cost £117,942.

The collapse of royal finances – from April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024 – covers a tumultuous 12 months, with the King and Princess of Wales double cancer diagnoses. But also the Coronation celebrations.

It was revealed that £600,000 of the Sovereign Grant was spent on the coronation and events surrounding it last year, with the total cost of the Sovereign Grant coming to £800,000.

The amount covered internal costs such as staff, palace receptions, as well as any furniture or costumes that will be reused later, including the readjustment of the Imperial State Crown and the King and Queen’s coronation robes.

However, separate financial reports released by Kensington Palace and the Duchy of Cornwall covering Prince WilliamHis first full financial year as Duke of Cornwall showed he received an annual private income of more than £23 million last year.

William, as heir to the throne, is entitled to the surplus profits from the estate of the Duchy of Cornwall, to finance the official, charitable and private life of his family.

The King, like the previous Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall, revealed the voluntary tax he paid at his annual review of Clarence House, but Kensington Palace decided not to share the information.

During a briefing it was also highlighted how the prince often uses WhatsApp to keep staff alert, as he intends to focus the Duchy of Cornwall’s work on its main causes, the environment, homelessness and mental health.

Alastair Martin, secretary and record keeper for the Duchy of Cornwall, said: “Sustainability is a passion we both share, but there are some differences.

“His Royal Highness the 24th Duke would call me. His Royal Highness the 25th Duke would WhatsApp me.”

He added: “The day after his late majesty died, I called Prince William to say ‘Welcome to your dukedom, sir’.

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“I obviously knew him, worked with him over the last eight or ten years, to really explain to him what his future was during the time he was heir to the throne.

“And he said, ‘I’ll give you my cell phone number – if you want me, just call me, just send me a message.’

“And that’s how he works and he’s very involved. There will be weekends where my WhatsApp messages will reach double digits and I will be very responsive.

“Whether something went good or bad, I’ll want to tell my boss and he’ll get back to me right away.”

Ian Patrick, Prince William’s private secretary, also shared unusual information about the personal charitable donations William and Kate made throughout the year.

“Their Royal Highnesses regularly undertake private philanthropy and we wouldn’t normally share this, but I wanted to give you an insight into it today.”

Patrick said the couple had donated to the London Air Ambulance, James’s Place, mental health service Shout and relief causes following the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, the war in Ukraine and the hurricane in the Caribbean. .

He also hinted at a new project launching later this year that William and Kate have personally funded to help improve mental health outcomes in rural communities.