As we previously discussed, it’s Financial Disclosure Week over in the UK. This always happens mid-year, at the end of the second quarter of the calendar year, although the time frame the Windsors are accounting for is the previous “business year.” In this case, that means April 1, 2022 through March 31, 2023. King Charles became king a little over four months into the business year, but Buckingham Palace still has to do some kind of disclosure for the entire business year. There are some disclosures getting more attention than others, like the stuff about how Charles was keeping all of the palaces and castles somewhat chilly over the winter (about 66 degrees Fahrenheit) as a cost-cutting measure. Some highlights from Buckingham Palace’s disclosures:
Charles had to dig into his savings: The King has been hit by the cost-of-living crisis but has drawn on reserves to increase his taxpayer-funded spending by five per cent to £107.5 million in the past year. Faced with no increase in his £86.3 million Sovereign Grant from the Government for three years, the 74-year monarch has dug deep into savings but has been forced to shelve major projects because of the cost of inflation and rising utility bills.
Inflation: A £369 million refurbishment of Buckingham Palace has been slowed because 10 per cent inflation and higher energy and other bills left no room for cash to be diverted to the major 10-year project. Aides insist the palace reservicing, which is due to conclude in 2027 will still be finished on time, allowing King Charles and Queen Camilla to move into the North Wing of Buckingham Palace in four years’ time, despite the slowdown this year. But other significant maintenance work has had to be delayed until the economic outlook improves. Spending on property maintenance has been cut by 10 per cent.
Gas bills: The palace gas and electricity bill almost doubled from £1.4 million to £2.7 million in the year to March 31, 2023. In an effort to cut emissions, for environmental reasons as well as cost, the heating has been turned down at Buckingham Palace and other royal homes. Guests, staff and the Royal Family were living with temperatures set at 19C during the winter and a few degrees lower when rooms were empty but it has been turned down, along with the heating in the Buckingham Palace swimming pool, to reflect King Charles’s concerns.
Empty Kensington Palace apartments: Four years after the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester downsized and moved out of their 21-room apartment next door to Prince William and Kate’s little used and similarly sized home at Kensington Palace, their former home – Apartment 1 – still remains empty and unfit for habitation. Workmen removed dangerous asbestos but a complete refurbishment of the property has been postponed because of a lack of money. It joins a growing list of empty properties on the royal estate, including Prince Harry and Meghan’s former home, Frogmore Cottage at Windsor.
“The King had to dig into his savings” is such a crazy statement, given that Charles inherited billions of pounds in cash, investments, jewelry, art and real estate TAX-FREE when his mother died. He inherited the Duchy of Lancaster, one of the most secretive portfolios in the world. He now has God knows how much money squirreled away in offshore accounts. We only have his word that he put suitcases full of cash into his charities. But sure, he kept the heating below 67 degrees! Honestly, though, the fact that there are all of these grand apartments and homes sitting empty is pretty crazy – the Gloucesters moved out of KP, William and Kate are rarely in KP, Charles evicting the Sussexes from Frogmore Cottage, Charles evicting other royals from their palace apartments. All of those empty palaces, castles, mansions, cottages.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
This makes my blood boil.
Abolish. The. Monarchy.
It is truly vile.
Yes it is disgustingly. Imagine how pensioners felt not being able to afford ANY heating, or how mother’s felt and still feel, having to go to food banks, or do without food so their children could eat. Imagine how dad’s felt working like a dog for a wage that meant his wife was having to cut those corners so he could afford to get to work in the first place. For gods sake ABOLISH THE MONARCHY, and get that money back to the taxpayers
Will no one think of the billionaires? Think of how they suffer trying to maintain a vast portfolio of property during inflation.
They had to turn down the heat in their SWIMMING POOL, poor sods. How many public pools, used by thousands, had to be closed completely because the councils and schools couldn’t afford the costs?
It’s even worse, since they get almost 100 million from TAXPAYERS, per year. The part about not getting an increase in 3 years?????!!!!!!!
My heart is with you, Scotland and N. Ireland. You can rise up against these grifters, I just know it.
England, good luck with all of this.
Seriously, this is so fucking insulting, to everyone that isn’t a billionaire who doesn’t have to report income, or pay taxes, to anyone, anywhere, i.e. the entire planet.
JFC, the “dig into savings” part makes me want to gouge my own eyeballs out, for reading the words. This family is utter trash, clueless to the end.
But where is all the money he saved from Harry? I say Harry because he wasnt paying for Meghan and his grandson.
Can he be more out of touch? I cannot even comment this, it’s too exhausting and ridiculous. Poor king in his (many) castles, can I support him in any way?
Poor guy, he really should start a go fund me 🙄🙄🙄
He already has a big “go found me” initiative going, he needs sth more!
This is so blatantly offensive. Who is minding the store over at BP that thinks this is acceptable.
It is. I’m focussing on the fact that this is getting any press coverage at all. That’s (sadly) something.
@Sarah, agreed. This will make most people’s blood boil. And coming on the heels of William’s new(est) pledge to end homelessness, this makes his “grand” new initiative even more laughable.
Nobody is minding the store! Whatever Camzilla and KFC want, they get! Willy too, pretty much.
I didn’t pay attention before, but is this the time of year we’d always get those ‘The Queen is so frugal, she wears sweaters inside & turns off the lights when she leaves the room’. There is no way, no flippin’ way, to put a positive spin on this ungodly, unseemly wealth wasted on ONE family.
In any case, most people I know did the same with their heating (19 degrees C during the day, 16 at night) as KC, but give me an effing break that he couldn’t afford it. Friends and acquaintances here were paying flipping 800-1,000 euro per month on heating if their contracts needed to be renewed. If CRex is blubbering about using his own money (um, how does he think most people pay their energy bills?!) while owning -12!- properties during an energy/ housing/ economic crisis, that is just too bad. Read the room, a-hole.
I struggle to feel any sympathy for this crowd (who can just pull on another fur coat) after a winter of people struggling to sleep, cook food, and generally live, and in some extreme cases dying due to cold homes they cannot afford to heat.
So he can dip into his savings. Good for him. And yet he couldn’t afford Meghan. He can GTFOH
@Jais as you know I’m a Brit and have cancer, this winter I spent my time in my bed or bedroom, just to be able to afford to heat one room properly
. I don’t (can’t) eat much, but my heart bled when I saw some families trying to manage, that’s why when I was taken to the supermarket I always looked for the buy one get one free offers so I could donate a little bit to the food bank. Then reading this dross today I wanted to scream. Charlie boy can have my medals back, I’m ashamed of the country I served allowing this to be happening. His unearned wealth could be used for so much good
❤️ to people like you donating to the food bank. If only Charles, Will and Kate did the same. Showing up empty handed to so many places is inconceivable.
@Mary Pester: your kindness & generosity of spirit–and wit!–far outweigh anything this dumb institution brings to the table. They just bring themselves, elbows out & hands grasping.
Seriously, they can cover themselves with their coronation fur garments, while they wait for their chef to bring them dinner.
Mary Pester, you have all of my good thoughts.
I know this is pocket change to him, but if his gas bill doubled, so did everyone else’s in the UK. For the average person a doubling of a necessary bill is devastating. Yet the Windsors spent how many millions in tax payers money in the last year? It’s so disturbing.
So this is supposed to make him more likeable or relatable?
Right? How was he even able to build this so-called savings? Everything’s given to him on a silver platter. Literally! And did he dip into his suitcases of cash or his shopping bags of cash?
Won’t someone think of the billionaire king, having to use his own money to pay for his own palaces?!?!?!?!
Seriously, Charles dipping into his “savings” to pay bills is not the same as normal people using their savings.
Or their credit cards, as I did one short but grim period a few years ago.
oh boo hoo. poor chuck…having a slightly chillier pool. maybe they can fill and heat the pool with their entitled tears. yea, literally ppl can’t heat their homes and you’re talking bout turning down the temp of ur pool and the cost of heating empty palaces, and oh the multiple homes u have.
That report is a farce IMO. So many empty properties not earning an income and lack of maintenance to empty properties yet increased spending forcing use of reserves? That family is accountable to no one. Not enough disclosure to provide appropriate transparency about how they spent and forecast to spend the money they use.
I pity the British. taxpayers that pick up the tab for that entitled, corrupt, lazy family.
British taxpayers accept the tabloid lies and continue to finance the RF lavish lifestyle and shenanigans. They figure it’s worth it for tourism (whatever that means). No one has ever validated exactly how much the RF actually earns in revenue from tourism.
Tourists are not allowed year round access to the RF or the royal homes that sit empty. Tourists do not see the RF when they visit the homes. In my opinion, whatever money the country makes from tourists, could be made without taxpayers financing the RF. Letting them pay for their own upkeep from the businesses they have would be good. They’ll probably learn to be frugal if they have to earn and pay for their own upkeep and their private homes. The taxpayers can in turn maintain the palaces and castles and make them accessible to tourists and rented for events such
as corporate and private (e.g weddings) functions, private apartment rentals (as is already being done at St. James Palace) year round instead of them being inaccessible. The country will probably make so much more money with that arrangement.
I think the British people have their head in the sand regarding the value of the royal family. They are not getting equivalent value for the money they spend on the family and the properties the families use. They don’t need to abolish the monarchy IMO, they just need to restructure how they are funded, how the properties are utilized to generate income and clearly define the duties the family is expected to perform for the public. Also, more transparency of the finances and governance of the institution is needed.
In 2019, the most popular tourist destinations in the UK:
1. British Museum 6,239,983 visitors
3. National Gallery 6,011,007
21. Stonehenge 1,604,248
22. Windsor Castle 1,600,000
66. Edinburgh Zoo 605,000
67. Buckingham Palace 578,000
71. Museum of Science & Industry 556,523
76. Kensington Palace 610,304
It is a travesty, and a lie, that the RF bring in the top tourist dollars.
I found this page awhile ago and downloaded, so I have extracted these numbers from the whole. Also note: these are 2019 numbers, so before the pandemic.
Thank you for sharing this. I think there needs to be more conversations in public about these types of details. Currently there is such a thick facade (years of propaganda) about the value the royals provide to tourism that people are being duped by the tabloids to accept the high cost of the public’s maintenance of the royals’ lifestyle.
I’ve been seeing on Twitter the amount of support the Edinburgh Zoo has been giving the LGBTQIA+ community, despite pushback, and now I wana go there. Even though I’m not a massive zoo person.
I found it much more interesting to visit Shakespeare’s home and sir Walter Scott’s home than any royal residence. Two of sir Walter Scott’s descendants were there to greet visitors. Also the duke of Wellington residence.
Thanks for sharing this. I’m not from the UK but my husband is and we go to London annually. In the 20 years of going, I can honestly say that I have NEVER been to Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle, but I HAVE been to the National Gallery, the British Museum, the V&A, and the Tate Modern loads of times. The Royal family is rubbish, but it clearly makes Brits who still dream of the glory days of empire feel very special indeed.
Monarchies are not tourist attractions; their homes and historical places are. Versailles is the most visited palace in all of Europe, and they got rid of their royal family a long time ago.
The most visited site in the UK is the London Eye, not even the Tower of London (which makes many lists).
When there is a royal wedding or other event involving pageantry, tourism actually goes down, because tourists don’t want to be caught up in it. If anything, they marvel at how a modern country can survive with such an anachronism; and these days, with their costs and the cost of living crisis in the UK, they’re barely surviving.
Here’s a list of the most popular tourist attractions in Europe — British castles and palaces don’t make the list.
https://passport-photo.online/blog/most-visited-attractions-in-europe-ranking/#gref
My god all of that taxpayer money 🤦🏻♀️
“Savings”? What are those?
That “king” is disgusting. What a greedy lot they are.
Chuck is so greedy & miserly, he’s really channeling his inner King Henry VII.
I’ll bet he uses this to request more funds from the government—a raise, if you will. To maintain crown properties. The note behind the note.
That’s exactly what they are implying – sobbing that the millions of taxpayer money granted “hasn’t been increased for three years!”. Never mind that the “workforce” has decreased by four senior royals during that time, and that people are not able to feed themselves and heat their modest homes. But, oh, king Charles might have had to dip into his vast funds (many of which are ill-gotten and shady IMO) in order to maintain his dozens of palaces. The humanity!
Whoever thought this was a winning argument should fire themselves out of a cannon.
Exactly. That three years part is there for a reason. This incredibly rich, welfare family is about to get a raise
It’s beyond obscene that KC et al bemoan any disruption to their status quo—as if they deserve a cookie. 😑
I bet a lot of these properties have a skeleton staff year round. Let’s hope they live in the carriages houses and are not shivering in the dark in the mansions.
If you can’t live on the taxpayers’ £86.3 million a year, what are you even doing???
Oh do NOT even try poor mouthing to us you absolute fool!
Billions, he is worth billions and still lives off the tax payers.
What an absolute jackass with this bs.
Shut up Charles.
Just that headline makes me furious!
Give me the biggest break EVER.
He had to turn down the heat in the indoor swimming pool in his palace? Let’s start a GoFundMe.
Do these people realize how they sound!?
The royal family, they’re just like us hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
It’s interesting Charles had no concern about the Gloucester’s KP apartment sitting empty but felt he needed to kick out Harry and Meghan because they spent most of their time in the US.
The King “has drawn on reserves to increase his taxpayer-funded spending by five per cent”…
—What? Do these people even know how to write without making things confusing?
How stupid is he?
No one on his staff told him to STFU, this looks bad. Bad. Bad.
Down with the Monarchy.
I keep saying this….
Shut Up to all of the “working” royals.
Every day they openly prove they are all completely worthless, stupid, ego driven, money hoarding and out of touch!
Flunky: Your Majesty, I’m afraid I have some rather distressing news.
Charles (munching avocado toast): Did you know that the avocado isn’t a vegetable? I had the information flunky look it up for me and it’s actually a kind of fruit! Remarkable!
Flunky: Sir, the money flunkies have been running some numbers and, apparently, if Sir is going to maintain Sir’s present lifestyle whilst removing the black mould from the Buckingham Palace toilets, Sir is going to have to dig into his own pockets this year.
Charles: Eh? Pockets? Speak up man, I can’t understand a word.
Flunky: By “pockets,” of course I mean Sir’s offshore accounts, Sir’s lands full of squeezable tenants, Sir’s suitcases of cash, Sir’s netsuke collection and Sir’s British taxpayers.
Charles: What? Not the netsuke! Without “man with flute and rucksack” and “frog attempting to mount a rice cake,” who would I be?
Flunky: Sir, I cannot answer that. Perhaps the netsuke can be saved, but something has to go.
Charles: Er – can we sell some of the grandchildren? What about those ones over in America?
Flunky: Sir, I don’t believe American law would allow that, nor, indeed, British law.
Charles: Have they invented laws over there? How very inconvenient.
Flunky: It is an annoyance, Sir.
Charles: Well, I can hardly see what else I can – wait a minute, how much am I laying out on YOUR salary?
Flunky (vanishes)
This made me laugh instead of seething with rage! Thanks 😊
Excellent! Sir had better hope those netsuke aren’t made out of ivory, or Sir’s firstborn will toss them on the bonfire!
Thank you, for this. You made me smile!
And somehow its Meghan and Harry who are “unpopular”. I guess British taxpayers are fine with this hot mess. People always say no one pays any attention to the Royals and that they are just a soap opera but damn. Talking about foxes running the henhouse and wool being pulled over eyes! Yikes! But I guess big government everywhere is a grift.
I have English bulldogs so my heat is always well below 70. Where’s my prize?
I imagine how c and c whine about dipping into the savings account. While some struggle to pay rent each month. They are probably more out of touch than marie Antoinette
Are they effing serious?????? Where are the guillotines when you need them?
All of a sudden they want us to believe they are so thrifty for the people by using their savings? After the millions spent on the coronation and trooping of the color? Please
For the posters above who read this to mean Charles is using his “own money” or “savings” to cover this increased spending, I’m sorry to tell you it’s worse than that! What this is actually saying is that he’s using reserves, i.e. government $ set aside, typically to be drawn down only in emergencies such as an economic downturn. He is most definitely not using his private $ to fund himself and his palaces. The most notable thing to me from this news (as someone who works in governments and analyzes budgets), is that the royals spent 107M when their revenue was only 86M. Meaning they’re using more than $20M in reserves. Obviously that’s not sustainable…
And BTW to Scobie’s point about media scrutiny of the royals. If this was happening where I work there would be news stories highlighting the $20 million budget shortfall, followed by fretting about what that will mean for taxes and services.
Did someone from the government approve this release of money? Surely he can’t just write a check to himself!?
Liar. Dig into more tax money from the English people. He personally has billions offshore, never to be touched.
If Charles is sliming down the monarchy he should be able to absorb the salary increase on remaining staff.
I am astonished at the audacity of the Royal Family to complain about “dipping into savings” all while claiming homelessness and environmental conservation as their “passion projects.” People literally can’t afford basic needs and these doofuses have several empty properties and more money than they will ever need or be able to spend. It makes me sick.