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Topics: Royal Family, UK News, News, King Charles III, Money
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Royal Family, UK News, News, King Charles III, Money
The British monarchy's annual finances have been exposed this week, with thousands of Brits horrified by the revelation that the Sovereign Grant will sky-rocket more than £45 million, despite the country's ongoing cost of living crisis.
For those unfamiliar with the legislation, under the Sovereign Grant Act 2011, the UK Government makes an annual payment to the royal family to fund King Charles III's official duties, such as travel, royal engagements, and his staff.
The money is also used for upkeep on royal assets and maintain official residences.
It is usually set as a percentage of annual income from the Crown Estate - which is a vast royal collection of land and property across the country - and is funded entirely by the public (the taxpayers).
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Between 2024-2025, the sum was a jaw-dropping £86 million.
The Sovereign Grant is reviewed every five years in a bid to ensure that the royals receive an 'appropriate' level of funding, as per the official legislation.
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According to latest accounts, however, this grant will rise to an even more staggering £131 million, and will remain stable throughout 2026 and 2027.
This 53 per cent increase comes after the monarchy reported unexpectedly high offshore wind profits to the Crown Estate, which will be used to continue refurbishing Buckingham Palace.
This project has been going on for a decade already and has seen a mind-blowing £266.5 million plied into 'reservicing' the building by modernising certain chambers and installing new lifts. A further £369m will likely be splashed on this assignment now.
As mentioned, the Crown Estate consists of luxury properties in central London, as well as historical estates, rural land and the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is believed this collection is worth around £15 billion.
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On top of the Sovereign Grant, the monarch also receives an annual income via the Privy Purse from the Duchy of Lancaster - a unique collection of land, property and assets held in trust for the King or Queen, founded in the 13th century.
Prince William, meanwhile receives his net profits from the Duchy of Cornwall as the future monarch.
These payments can fluctuate each year, though the latest figures show that Charles isn't to receive a 'pay rise' this year.
On top of this, the family as a whole receive an extra £21 million just from the amount of visitors to the King's central royal residence each year.
Naturally, the latest account has served as a punch in the gut for thousands of Brits enduring the ongoing cost of living crisis, with some quarters of the county seeing as many as 4.5 million children (around a third of the UK's child population) living in poverty.
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This devastating figure is also up 100,000 from last year, as per March's new government statistics.
Speaking to press about the latest figures, Graham Smith - the chief executive of the anti-monarchy campaign group Republic - gave a scathing response.
"Half a billion could go a long way to relieving some of that poverty," he told NBC today (2 July). "That money is instead being spent on their personal lifestyles, helicopters and two dozen palatial homes.
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"It’s just criminal."
Taking to social media in agreement on X (formerly Twitter), one user explained: "King Charles charges Coastal Wind Farms hundreds of millions of pounds a year to rent worthless sea bed because he 'owns the sea'.
"This money is added straight onto your energy bills, then sent straight to him, and he pays no tax on it."
Another went on to hit out: "Shameful. There is more wrong with this than my character limit will allow."
"They wouldn’t tolerate this obscenity in France," compared another. "Let them keep their estates which are linked to their private residence but otherwise all crown assets should be surrendered to the state."
A fourth wrote: "That’s just mad."
Playing devil's advocate, one user pointed out, however: "88% of that 1.1bn profit goes straight to us, via the treasury.
"Whilst I’m not a royalist, I do think if we didn’t have the monarchy/crown estate, that land would probably be sold off by the next government for some wealthy/corporation to profit from and it would be lost to us."