The cost of Britain’s royal family to the UK taxpayer rose by five percent over the past year, the annual financial report of King Charles III’s household showed on Thursday.
Royal aides put the rise in expenditure partly down to the change of monarchs following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022 and the succession of her son Charles in May this year.
The cost of Elizabeth’s funeral and Charles’s coronation however are not included in the financial report.
Other main drivers of expenditure include a 10-year programme of upgrades to electrical cabling, plumbing and heating at Buckingham Palace, the monarch’s official residence.
The figure for net expenditure increased by £5.1 million ($6.4 million), or five percent, to £107.5 million for 2022-3.
The amount the royal family received from the public purse via the Sovereign Grant remained unchanged at £86.3 million 2022-3.
Spending on travel dropped by £600,000 to £3.9 million, while housekeeping and hospitality rose from £1.3 million to £2.4 million. Property maintenance fell £6.1 million to £57.8 million.
Staff costs rose by 3.4 million to 27.1 million with staff given a pay rise of five-six percent.
The report also revealed that the royal household has failed again to meet its diversity target, set in 2021, of drawing 10 percent of its workforce from ethnic minorities, with the 2023 figure of 9.7 percent the same as last year.
The Sovereign Grant pays for the monarch’s official duties and upkeep of royal palaces.
The UK is currently facing a cost of living crisis, with inflation hitting 8.7 percent last month.