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It comes as soaring profits from the Crown Estate to £1.1 billion mean the taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant, which supports the official duties of the royal family, will increase from £86.3 million in 2024/2025 to £132 million in 2025/2026.
Officials have said that the increase will be used to help fund the final stages of the 10-year £369 million renovation of Buckingham Palace, keeping it on time and budget.
The boost will be reviewed through legislation in 2026/27 to keep funding of the royal family at a “more appropriate” level, a Palace spokesman said.
Monarchy’s income to rise by £45m to more than £130m
A National Audit Office report revealed that the Palace renovation has been well managed but structural damage and the discovery of asbestos, which led to cost increases, “could have been foreseen”.
The Sovereign Grant report revealed the royal household will take delivery of two new helicopters in 2024-25 to replace the existing 15-year-old ones.
The AgustaWestland AW139s are considered a “key component” in enabling the King and royal family to carry out their engagements, allowing access to remote areas of the UK, and they will replace the current Sikorsky helicopters.
The King’s state Bentleys are being converted to run on bio-fuel within the next year, with a view to switching to a fleet of official electric cars in the future, while solar panels have been introduced to Windsor Castle for the first time.
Gas lanterns at Buckingham Palace, which were switched off during the recent energy crisis as a cost-saving measure, are being repurposed with specially designed electrical fittings to improve their energy efficiency while also preserving their historic look and glow.
The Sovereign Grant is funded by the taxpayer in exchange for the King’s surrender of the revenue from the Crown Estate.
Official travel costs for the monarchy rose marginally by £0.3 million from £3.9 million to £4.2 million.
The most expensive travel was the King and Queen’s visit to Kenya by charter flight in October, along with the related separate staff planning visit by scheduled flights, which came 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.
Housekeeping and hospitality came in at £2.6 million, up from £2.4 million last year.
But overall expenditure fell by 17% or £18.4 million from £107.5 million in 2022/23 to £89.1 million, with the Palace putting the change mostly due to an anticipated decrease in expenditure on the Palace renovation program in 2023-24.
The report also showed £600,000 from the Sovereign Grant was spent on the coronation and events surrounding it last year, with the total cost to the Sovereign Grant overall coming to £800,000.
The figure covered internal costs such as staffing, Palace receptions, plus any furnishings or costumes which be reused later on, including the readjusting of the Imperial State Crown and the King and Queen’s coronation robes.
Palace officials also confirmed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s former home Frogmore Cottage remains empty and there are no new tenants.
The funding of the monarchy was switched last year from 25% to 12% of the Crown Estate’s net profits because of the rising income expected from the estate’s new offshore wind deals.
The King asked for the wind farm profits to be used for the wider public good.
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If the 25% formula had continued the monarchy would have received £275 million instead in 2025/26.
Despite the percentage reduction, Crown Estate financial figures published on Wednesday showed the profits in 2023-24 were £1.1 billion, meaning the Sovereign Grant – based on funds two years in arrears – will be £132 million in 2025-26 – £45.7 million more than in 2024/25.
With the new formula, £143 million will be redirected for the wider good of the nation.
