King Charles III has made history by becoming the first monarch to release their tax payments which revealed he was among the country’s top 100 taxpayers in 2024-25
King Charles has taken the step of publishing his payments to HM Revenue and Customs in a bid to aid clarity and accessibility around royal finances. The Prince of Wales initially resisted releasing his own tax payments when he became heir to the throne and took on the Duchy of Cornwall, but has released his financial data as a string of royal reports were published.
Since Charles became King following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022 he has paid more than £30 million in tax, while William has made payments of more than £20 million in tax since becoming the Prince of Wales.
Charles voluntary pays income tax on all his private income, capital gains tax on relevant elements of his assets, and inheritance tax under arrangements agreed by the late Queen that first came into effect in 1993. You can read more on this story here.
The core funding of the monarchy is to jump to £100 million a year, almost doubling in the space of three years.
Under a new formula for calculating the Sovereign Grant, which pays for the royal family’s official duties and the upkeep of royal palaces, the Royal Household is to receive £99.9 million as a core grant in 2027-28, a jump of £48.1 million compared with the core grant of £51.8 million in 2024-25.
The change was decided upon by Royal Trustees – outgoing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, and the King’s Keeper of the Privy Purse and Treasurer James Chalmers.
The boost will be used to pay for a backlog in maintenance at occupied royal palaces, strengthen cyber security at royal residences, and for the installation of energy efficient heating systems, with £11 million set aside to replace boilers nearing the end of their life at Windsor Castle.
A temporary decade-long uplift to the Sovereign Grant was put in place from 2017 to pay for the £369 million overhaul of Buckingham Palace, with an extra reservicing portion grant added to the core grant for 10 years.
The refurbishments are coming to an end in 2027, when the annual overall grant will fall from £137.9 million, which includes both core funding and the Buckingham Palace renovations funds, in 2026-27, to a core funding of £99.9 million in 2027-28.
Key figures from the 2025-26 Sovereign Grant and other royal accounts:
* The amount of Sovereign Grant the monarchy will receive in two years’ time in 2027-28 because of the £487 million Crown Estate profits and under a new 20.5% formula, compared with £132 million in 2025/26 – £99.9 million
* The King’s private income from the profits of the Duchy of Lancaster estate, up from £24.4 million – £25.2 million
* The amount the King paid in tax in 2024-25 as he became the first British head of state to disclose their personal tax bill – £12.9 million
* The Prince of Wales’s annual private income from the Duchy of Cornwall estate, down from £22.9 million the previous year – £21.6 million
* William’s personal tax bill from 2024-25, published for the first time since he inherited the Duchy of Cornwall – 7.76 million
* The total taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant in 2025-26, compared to £86.3 million in 2024-25, thanks to the Crown Estate wind farm deal profits – £132.1 million
* Official net expenditure by the monarchy, a rise from £85.2 million in 2024/2025 – £117.2 million
* Cost of property maintenance, compared with £41.2 million the previous year – £67.5 million
* Cost of official royal travel, a rise from £4.7 million the previous year – £5.1 million
* Cost of 177 helicopter journeys made by members of the royal family, costing less than £20,000 each – £733,063
* The most expensive journey – William’s official visit to Saudi Arabia on a charter flight, including a scheduled planning flight by staff – £130,106
* Cost of the King and Queen’s flight to Rome for their state visit to Italy – £126,946
* Rental income from properties let to non-working royals including Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, Royal Household staff and other tenants, with no figures released for the exact amount the King pays for his nieces – £3.9 million
* Cost of housekeeping and hospitality for the Royal Household, up from £3.2 million – £3.5 million
* The wage bill for staff, up from £29.9 million – £33.7. million
* The number of public engagements carried out by the King and Queen across the UK in 2024-25 – a rise of 104 – 708
* Guests who attended events at official royal palaces – 97,000
* Proportion of staff from ethnic minority backgrounds working for Buckingham Palace, 2% short of the target of 14% by December 2025 – 12%
* Income earned to supplement the Sovereign Grant – compared with £21.5 million last year – £21.3 million