Here are some photos from Thursday, where King Charles and Queen Camilla made a visit to Bradford, England. It was a pretty typical “away day,” full of walkabouts, handshakes, awkward hugs and Charles observing tables full of food (one of his favorite activities). There were several moments where photographers caught Charles looking like he was mid-curse, which is always a treat. Meanwhile, let’s talk about money. Several days ago, the BBC reported something we already knew in general terms, which is that the “Sovereign Grant” has risen steeply in the past 13 years.
Public funding for the Royal Household has tripled in real terms since 2012, official figures show, with the rise driven largely by repairs and building work at Buckingham Palace.
The Sovereign Grant, which provides state funding for the monarchy, was introduced in 2012 at £31m per year. That has now risen to £132m, data from the House of Commons Library shows, and once inflation has been taken into account, that represents about a threefold increase.
The grant rose 53% in April, from £86.3m to £132.1m. Royal aides say this was because of a Buckingham Palace building project and the grant will come down again, adding that the monarchy represents good value.
Lord Turnbull, a crossbench peer and a former Cabinet Secretary, called the way the grant was calculated, using a calculation based on Crown Estate profits, was “complete and utter nonsense” but said that the budget isn’t high compared with other presidential heads of state.
“The budget isn’t high compared with other presidential heads of state.” A few things – presidential heads of state are elected, it’s not a hereditary position. And the cost of a presidency includes salaries for federal officials working for the executive on matters of law and policy. King Charles supports a staff which mostly works in PR to hype the monarchy as “good value” in between briefing sh-t about royal scapegoats. The Sovereign Grant also supports the left-behind Windsors who barely garner any attention or provide any benefit to the public. On the heels of this news about the Sovereign Grant, it looks like Charles’s personal wealth has also grown by leaps and bounds in the past year.
The King’s personal wealth has gone up by £30million to £640million in the past year – making him twice as rich as his late mother Queen Elizabeth II. The monarch, 76, who acceded to the throne in 2022, ranks joint 238th in the list of the UK’s 350 wealthiest people and families, up 20 places from 258th in 2024, according to The Sunday Times Rich List.
The monarch is £140million richer than David and Victoria Beckham, who are said to be worth £500 million, with former England captain Beckham being Britain’s richest sports star. The late Queen’s wealth was said to be £370 million in 2022, with Charles now estimated to be worth £270 million more than his mother, rising from £610 million to £640million in 2025.
The current sovereign Charles III was the longest serving Prince of Wales in history, between 1958 and 2022. As the Prince of Wales, Charles received a private income of up to £23million a year from the Duchy of Cornwall estate, now inherited by Prince William.
The 76-year-old monarch, who has faced a challenging past year as he continues to undergo treatment for cancer, has benefited from the investment portfolio he inherited from his late mother for the bulk of his wealth, the newspaper said. His private estates Sandringham in Norfolk and Balmoral in Aberdeenshire, which belonged to the Queen, are part of his financial fortune. Only personal assets are included by The Sunday Times when assessing the sovereign’s wealth.
This does not include the Crown Estate, which saw soaring profits thanks to wind farm deals, the Duchy of Lancaster estate, nor the Crown Jewels which are held in trust by the King for the nation.
£640 million… not including the Crown Estate, Duchy of Lancaster, Crown Jewels OR all of the Royal Collection jewels and art, correct? Charles really made a Faustian bargain – he’s finally king (in his 70s) and all of it is finally HIS and he’s in charge and he has all of the palaces and castles… and he’s still miserable. His heir is still bleating constantly about how Charles will be gone soon. He’s still a terrible father.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.
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- HRH King Charles III and HM Queen Camilla visit Bradford Live, Bradford, UK, 15 May 2025.,Image: 999442480, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Mark Ellis/Avalon
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- HRH King Charles III and HM Queen Camilla visit Bradford Live, Bradford, UK, 15 May 2025.,Image: 999442630, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Mark Ellis/Avalon
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- HRH King Charles III and HM Queen Camilla visit Bradford Live, Bradford, UK, 15 May 2025.,Image: 999443189, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Mark Ellis/Avalon
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- Britain’s King Charles III is huged by tailor Imran Khan as he visits Impact Hub Yorkshire, which provides support to businesses finding sustainable solutions to social challenges in Bradford, England, Thursday, May 15, 2025.,Image: 999454736, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WPA POOL PHOTO, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Jon Super/Avalon
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla depart Bradford Live in Bradford, West Yorkshire, where they met performers and creatives involved in Bradford 2025 to celebrate the region’s year as UK City of Culture. Featuring: King Charles III, Queen Camilla Where: Bradford, United Kingdom When: 15 May 2025 Credit: Danny Lawson/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III stands beside the Yorkshire flag during a visit to Impact Hub Yorkshire, which provides support to businesses finding sustainable solutions to social challenges, in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Featuring: King Charles III Where: Bradford, United Kingdom When: 15 May 2025 Credit: Jon Super/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla during a visit to Bradford Live in Bradford, West Yorkshire, where they are meeting performers and creatives involved in Bradford 2025 to celebrate the region’s year as UK City of Culture. Featuring: Queen Camilla, King Charles III Where: Bradford, United Kingdom When: 15 May 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III during a visit to Cartwright Hall, an art gallery and community cultural space in Bradford, West Yorkshire, where he toured the David Hockney gallery, dedicated to the life and career of the Bradford-born artist. Featuring: King Charles III Where: Bradford, United Kingdom When: 15 May 2025 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Will is laughably between a rock and a hard place: all that lovely dosh is set to be his and NOTHING for HARRY but, but, but will he be made to work for it? Monday to Friday, evenings, weekends , Royal Tours lasting 14 days with his wife, being pleasant and diplomatic to everyone he meets (except Harry and Meg?)
@LadyDigby: but what if Charles leaves his private wealth to Camilla? If she inherits Sandringham and Balmoral? She would have to pay inheritance tax, I think. But still very rich. And William would explode…
That Harry and Meghan and the children will get nothing seems to be sure for me…
Charles will have loopholes regarding his private wealth. No tax paying necessary.
So there is no inheritance from monarch to monarch and I think that’s how the QM got around inheritance taxes when she died – she left everything to QEII and because she was the queen and her daughter was a queen there was no inheritance tax. So charles to Camilla is not implausible, but I dont think he’ll do it.
i could also be completely misremembering that bit about the QM too lolol.
It wouldn’t surprise me if, during all these years, Chuckie has been squirreling away sacks of “oats” for Whoresilla and her brood in offshore accounts. While I don’t think he’d leave her Balmoral or Sandringham, be sure he’s left her MORE than enough for her to keep grazing comfortably all her days when she’s set out to pasture.
also sorry that should say no inheritance “tax” from monarch to monarch. sigh. its been a long week.
I hear he is having a shroud fitted with pockets. Job done, now he’s happy.
£640 million seems like enough to provide RPO protection to the Sussex family for the next 400 years.
Remind us again, Chucky, why you claimed you couldn’t afford to feed, clothe, and protect Meghan?
Because she didn’t belong there.
Security costs. Frogmore and its repairs. Decent staff for the Sussexes. Taking care of lawsuits against certain papers.
Not to mention he can afford to update his buildings and not be a slumlord to his tenants.
Have any of the papers done a deep-dive into how many bathrooms, toilet rooms and bedrooms he possesses in total on every estate?
Those bags of cash from other countries must be really full.. it is really a crime that these people are not forced to support themselves with all this money they hoard while making the subjects still fund their half a billion dollar a year lifestyle.
And Camilla never wanted any of this according to spin.
A couple of houses from Chuck, independently wealthy from
APB, trusts for her children…the British taxpayer is paying for her clan.
When Willy ascends, they’ll be paying for the Middletons.
Why are they comparing the cost of the monarchy with presidential systems where the president is also the head of government. Of course the president of the US cost more they also run the government? Why not compare it with other ceremonial heads of state like the president of Ireland or Germany who are much cheaper than the monarchy?
Or even other monarchs. The Spanish King is a bargain compared to him.
I think they mean presidents that are ceremonial heads of state. Hungary has one, Israel too. I read the Bbc article and they offer no more detail, of course. The reader should just conclude that it’s ok, the windsors are not expensive at all.
I think the guardian wrote all European monarchies together cost less than the British monarchy.
And yes German presidents costs, even if they earn their presidential salary for life. But I assure you you don’t pay for presidential campaigns against the rest of their family…
Our German president only costs us around 20,000 a month, not several million like workshy-Will and Charly. Besides, he’s doing an excellent job and securing democracy with his position. The BRF is doing exactly the opposite.
But to be fair you have to compare more than wages, his residence, security, staff… But I doubt it goes anywhere near the costs of the Windsors.
“ Royal aides say this was because of a Buckingham Palace building project and the grant will come down again, adding that the monarchy represents good value.”
I thought the Sovereign Grant can never be reduced, it can only be increased so royal aids talking about it going down is a lie? Someone correct me if I’m wrong. And how is good value when royal “work” has can considerably decreased, while the budget increases?
Someone in the origibal articke even claps back that they keep blaming the raises on Buckingham Palace reno repeatedly, like is there no project plan and coat projections for that? And why not put the BP reno on a separate budget, so there is transparency about the cost of the royals? The article just keeps saying that the royals books are transparent, like the not a racist family line. Believe us, not your lying eyes.
The Palaces need an audit.
The BP renos have also been used as an excuse for the increased SG for years now. Its been explained here before but years ago the queen was given a certain percentage more in the SG supposedly to help upkeep BP (so it could avoid insane renovations down the line) and that apparently did not happen. So that’s why it feels like the BP reno has been going on forever – bc it basically has.
Add to that, Lizzie WAS given the budgeted money to rehab Buck, but she detoured the ££££££££££££s to “other” things. She never used the actual allocated funds to do the repairs, that’s why *so*much* is needed to be done now. Why isn’t there any accounting for THAT money????
There should be calls for Charles to pay for his own upkeep and security. He can afford it.
What they are paid is over the top to say the least.and taxpayers pitch in
640 million welfare recipient and these racists are pocket watching Meghan and Harry who make their own money?
Jesus be a fence.
Another Obscene amount of wealth!! Complete with evil greedy jealous people!!
And yet, he and the Missus persist with the long faces.
We still don’t know what income tax rate Charles pays on that lovely income, do we? That Channel 4 report said he hadn’t reported his income tax rate for a few years, and his last tax report before he stopped publicizing it showed something like a 23% rate IIRC, which is much lower than paid by other high-income tax payers. Ch. 4 also found Charles had been deducting things like stables for Camilla’s horses. No doubt a lot of his wealth increase is capital appreciation—but as is well known, he doesn’t pay capital gains taxes if he sells or trades any of it. And William won’t have to pay inheritance taxes when Charles passes. All of which is foregone income to the Treasury at a time when pensioners are facing cuts.
“The budget isn’t high compared with other presidential heads of state.”
Apart from the USA, whose are higher on an annual basis? Is he behind Putin?
Exactly, at least one example would have made it more like a news article with facts.
And the USA isn’t a direct comparison because our president has actual authority and actual constitutional duties.
Why dont they scrap the SG altogether, pay these royals a specific salary – so Charles gets X amount a year as a salary, Anne gets X amount a year, etc – tie the salary to work expectations – and then have the rest of the SG absorbed into the national budget (and the crown estate) and they pay the royal courtiers etc out of that?
Becks: wasn’t that what the previous civil list was about? I would love to know why they scrapped it and put this system in place. And who gets what… And what the grey man get and control… Royal finances should be controlled by parliament.
I think generally yes, that’s what the civil list was, but I think it got a little murky sometimes. I think the royal family’s spending should be transparent and if the monarch is going to keep the duchy of lancaster, neither they nor their spouse should get public money (Phillip got a lot of money from the civil list that he never spent obviously.) I’m looking on wiki and apparently only QEII, the QM and Philip got civil list money – everyone else was covered by the queen’s private funds bc she reimbursed the treasury for their expenses. And now I think presumably the SG is supposed to cover everything? I’m not sure.
I think they need to treat the royal family more like actual government employees – they have a salary, they have defined roles, defined expectations, defined benefits, etc. there’s a limited number who get these salaries – its not a free for all and the monarch doesnt get to decide who is or is not a working royal. Like the working royals should be the monarch, spouse, the direct heir and their spouse, and if there is a second in line that needs to be considered.
I dont know. as long as you have a hereditary monarchy its always going to be a little messy. but again, other monarchies/governments have figured this out. the UK is refusing.
The monarchy does not “represent good value”. It does nothing for the general public but fleece them of their hard earned wages while providing an endless stream of boring gossip which is not even entertaining. Abolish the monarchy!
Agreed Graham Smith of Republic already pointing out lazy FK isn’t VFM.A mere 166 royal engagements last year and he doesn’t want to get out of bed for less than 50 million a year currently?!
They’re a bunch of leeches. And the British public is still expected to revere them. As if they are God’s gift to a starving nation. More like a grift to a declining nation.
What about a PM? What does it cost for that position? If they are funding a PM AND a monarchy, does it make sense?
That’s a lot of money. But please cry more about the 1mil it would cost for the Sussex family to visit safely.
You would think with all that $$$$ that they could dress better and she could get her hair done for these “visit the peasants” days… His suit looks like a sheen reject and her crumbled coat and hair in disarray really doesn’t give “royalty”,,, It’s almost criminal to have hoarded all this wealth for a figurehead when so much of that unearned wealth could be spent helping his “subjects”!!!!
People talk about Will being incandescent with rage: Charles always looks angry. So yes, he may have become richer, but not happier.
All that money and Camilla doesn’t have a decent bra.