Royal finances set to increase by £45m following boost from offshore windfarm licenses
The money to fund the Royal Family is set to soar in the coming years with a 53% jump in revenues.
The soaring profits for the Crown Estate on which the budget is set for the official work of the Royals follow a significant boost from new offshore windfarm licenses.
As the public funds for the Royal Family are set as a proportion of the Crown Estate profits, palace finance chiefs have had to change the proportion of the money it takes to ensure more goes back to the taxpayer.
The estate is projecting profits of £1.1 billion which would mean an increase in funding for the Royals to £132 million in 2025/26, compared to the current £86.3 million.
The Sovereign Grant, for official work and travel, is currently set at 15% of Crown Estate profits plus an additional 10% over 10 years to fund the major redevelopment of Buckingham Palace and its creaking infrastructure.
That work is costing £369 million over 10 years and a National Audit Office report, also out today, has found that project to be largely on time and on budget.
The King has ordered his treasurers to reduce the proportion for the royals to 12% - from the current 25% - so that more money is returned to the taxpayer.
Had it not been revised, the money for the Royal Family would have been even greater, at £275 million, such is the size of the extra revenues from the windfarm deals.
Sir Michael Stevens, the Keeper of the Privy Purse, who is in charge of palace finances, said: “At His Majesty’s request, the bulk of this additional revenue is to be used for the wider public good, made possible through an appropriate reduction in the proportion of the surplus used to calculate the Sovereign Grant - from 25% to 12%”.
The Crown Estate profits not diverted to the Royal Family end up in the coffers of the Treasury and are available for government spending.
The Sovereign Grant report covers the year 2023/24 that includes the months when King Charles and the Princess of Wales had to step back from public duties following their cancer treatment.
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Sir Michael said the “moments of personal challenge” have impacted this year’s report.
Withdrawing from public-facing duties, he noted, has “inevitably impacted on the number and nature of engagements that had been planned - though may I say how encouraging it is to see The King back performing so many public duties and, more recently, The Princess similarly well enough to join The King’s Birthday Parade and the Men’s Wimbledon Final.”
It was also revealed there were around 27,620 letters sent to the palaces for the King and Kate following their health announcements.
Costs incurred by the Sovereign Grant for the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla came to £800,000 although that doesn’t include security and military costs, which are paid by the government.
The sharp rise in the cost of utilities impacted the royal household – just as it impacted every other household in the country – following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Electricity costs were nearly £1 million higher in the last year, rising from £1.3 million to £2.2 million - although royal sources say they have been able to sign a deal for lower prices from October.
The first solar panel has been installed at one of the royal palaces to generate electricity of their own while a replacement for a leaking roof at Windsor Castle was also done.
Two new helicopters will be delivered in the coming year to replace the existing ones which are 155 years old, and the replacements can run on 50% Sustainable Aviation Fuel – the maximum currently permitted.
The cost of helicopter travel for members of the Royal Family hit the £2 million mark for the year.
Two state Bentleys used by the King and Queen will be converted to run on biofuels before electric cars are introduced.
Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan’s former home, Frogmore Cottage, which they left following their move to California, remains empty.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had repaid the money for the refurbishment of the house after they got married and palace sources refused to speculate on who could move in next.
It’s known that King Charles would like his brother, Prince Andrew, to leave the much larger property he currently uses on the Windsor Estate, Royal Lodge, but the King has been unsuccessful in those endeavours.
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