King Charles faces growing pressure as the £138m sovereign grant is paid to the royal family this year, with calls for radical reform in the face of the rising cost of royal upkeep.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is being urged to reconsider the grant, which jumped by almost £50 million in three years, largely to fund £369 million of renovations to Buckingham Palace over a decade.
While anti-corruption campaigners are calling for more transparency after Keir Starmer’s tsar criticized past royal incomes as “exorbitant” charity rents.
Baroness Margaret Hodge, the government’s anti-corruption champion, flagged the Andrew scandal as a turning point, warning that opaque private revenues could weaken the monarchy at a sensitive time.
Former Labor minister Lord George Foulkes echoed the call for reform, pointing to Queen Camilla’s helicopter trip to a race day as evidence that the royal family appears increasingly out of touch as Britons struggle with cost of living pressures, homelessness and poverty.
“It really requires a more radical overhaul than in the past,” he said.
The Treasury has confirmed that the sovereign grant is subject to a five-year review, but there are no plans to remove it completely.
Introduced by the then chancellor, George Osborne, in 2011, it funds the king’s official functions, including staff salaries, travel and the upkeep of the palace.
Last year, £41.2 million was spent on property maintenance, £4.7 million on travel and £475,000 on 141 helicopter flights, including £80,000 on charters and flights across Northern Ireland.
MPs are also investigating the Crown Estate, as part of scrutiny into Andrew’s use of Royal Lodge and whether other properties provide fair value to taxpayers.
Meanwhile, the King and Prince William continue to receive private income from the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, as well as inherited wealth and investments.
Over 70 years, these estates generated around £1.2 billion for the royal family.
Property sales in the Duchy of Cornwall increased from £3.3 million per year (2010-2020) to £11 million per year over the following four years, although they remain exempt from capital gains tax.
