Spending on the UK monarchy has risen for the second year in a row. According to the Palace’s annual report released today, net spending increased by £5.1m – or 5 per cent – to £107.5m in the financial year 2022/23 (5 April).
Royal advisors blamed the change of throne after the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September as well as inflation and the ongoing costs of the years-long renovation of Buckingham Palace. The additional expenses were financed by reserves.
The individual items showed a mixed picture. The Royal Family’s travel expenses fell by £600,000 to £3.9m. Conversely, property management and management costs increased by £1.3m to £2.4m and staff costs by £3.4m to £27.1m. This was also due to a salary increase of 5 to 6 percent.
Overall, the so-called Sovereign Grant – that is the annual payment that the royal family draws from the state budget – was 86.3 million pounds, as in the previous year. Of this, £51.8m is earmarked for the official duties of the King and his household and £34.5m for ongoing refurbishments.
The palace’s chief financial officer, Michael Stevens, as the so-called Keeper of the Privy Purse, spoke of a “year of mourning, change and celebration such as our nation has not seen in seven decades”. The reporting period included celebrations for the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne, the period of mourning for the Queen’s death and the beginning of the reign of the new King Charles III, but not his coronation.
The accession to the throne of the new monarch, who is regarded as a pioneer for climate and environmental issues, is also expressed in the report. The heating in Buckingham Palace and other royal properties was turned down to 19 degrees Celsius to reduce emissions.
