Majority of voters need funding for royals slashed after £50m hike in three years
Polling for The Mirror found 54% of voters want the Sovereign Grant to be cut this year as the Government and the Royal household hammers out a new agreement
Ministers are under pressure to cut the amount of public cash paid to the royals(Image: Getty Images)
Most Brits want to see the amount of public cash handed to the Royal Family slashed.
A poll carried out for The Mirror found 54% of voters would like to see the Sovereign Grant – which has soared by nearly £50million in three years – reduced.
The sum given to King Charles to carry out his duties is under review this year, with the Government promising new legislation to bring it down. Talks are underway between the Treasury and the royal household ahead of an announcement.
The grant soared to £137.9m this financial year – up from £132.1m in 2025/26. It rose by £45.8million from 2024/25 – a surge to help fund £369million of repairs to Buckingham Palace over a decade.
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A Treasury spokesman told The Mirror: “The next review of the Sovereign Grant is taking place this year. It will ensure that it is set at an appropriate level.”
Under the Sovereign Grant Act 2011, passed by former Tory Chancellor George Osborne, the monarch receives a percentage of profits from the Crown Estate each year. The Royal Trustees – the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Keeper of the Privy Purse, the royal treasurer – are weighing up whether the percentage remains appropriate or needs altering.
No date for the decision has been set.
In March Treasury Minister Lord Livermore said in a written answer: “The Government is committed to bringing forward legislation to reset the Grant to a lower level from 2027-28 once Buckingham Palace reservicing works are completed.”
The polling by Deltapoll also found that 63% said their opinion of the Royal Family has stayed the same since Charles became King. One in five said it had got worse.
The monarch has endured a difficult few months with a string of allegations about his brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. The disgraced royal – who was stripped of his titles and ordered out of the royal lodge last year – was arrested in February over allegations of misconduct in public office.
He was later released on bail. Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has previously denied wrongdoing in his relationship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. The arrest came amid allegations he leaked sensitive information to the businessman while he was a UK trade envoy.
But King Charles was buoyed by a successful state visit to the US at the end of last month. He charmed Donald Trump and got multiple ovations during a speech to the US Congress.
Nevertheless public spending on the royals remains controversial. Last month The Mirror reported that the Government faces pressure for a “radical” rethink.
Labour peer Lord George Foulkes said: “There’s a growing concern that when a lot of people are finding the cost of living difficult, when there are a lot of people homeless, when there are a lot of people struggling, you see the royal estates and you see the Queen travelling by a helicopter to a race meeting (at the Plumpton Racecourse), it’s getting increasingly unacceptable.
“And so it really needs to be a rather more radical review than it has been in the past.”
And Baroness Margaret Hodge, who was named as the Government’s anti-corruption champion in 2024, said: “It’s (the Sovereign Grant) run out of time… One would hope that they will come back with something that cuts that, so it reflects what’s happening in the rest of Britain.”
She called for greater transparency over royal income. The Sovereign Grant is used to fund the King’s official duties, including staff costs, travel and palace maintenance. The most recent statement, covering 2023/24, revealled £41.2million was spent on property maintenance and £4.7million on travel.
There was £475,000 spent on 141 helicopter flights, while a charter flight to and from Belfast and helicopters around Northern Ireland cost £80,000. The salaries of 539 were also paid for.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said last month: “The Sovereign Grant is reviewed every five years by the Royal Trustees, which include the Chancellor, to ensure the level of funding for the Royal Household remains appropriate to support the official duties of The Sovereign in his roles as Head of State, Nation and the Commonwealth. Each year the Royal Household publishes a report setting out how the Sovereign Grant is spent, and the Sovereign Grant accounts are audited by the National Audit Office.”
::: Deltapoll surveyed 3,353 adults in Great Britain between April 26 and May 1 for The Mirror.
