The annual royal accounts have revealed the Firm cost the taxpayer £86.3 million last year, as King Charles derails the Royal Train in a bid to save cash – and we asked Mirror readers to share their thoughts
The royal family spent a staggering £2.7 million on travel last year, including journeys by private jet, helicopter, and train, the newly released royal accounts have revealed – and we asked Mirror readers if the Firm is costing the taxpayer too much.
Last year’s accounts show that the royals cost the taxpayer £86.3 million for the fourth consecutive year, while the King and Queen’s trip to Australia and Samoa in October came with a hefty £400,000 price tag. Following the publication of the annual accounts, it was announced that King Charles plans to derail the Royal Train after nearly 125 years of service in a bid to save cash.
The nine-carriage locomotive, which was once Queen Elizabeth II’s preferred mode of travel, was only in action twice in the last year but cost £78,000. It comes as the King attempts to “modernise” the Royal Family, as Keeper of the Privy Purse James Chalmers said: “The time has come to bid the fondest of farewells as we seek to be disciplined and forward-looking in our allocation of funding.”
The Sovereign Grant, which pays for the royal family’s official duties and the upkeep of royal palaces, is met from public funds in exchange for the King’s surrender of the revenue from the Crown Estate. The royals then in return get 12 per cent of this revenue back to run their affairs including travel, engagements at home and abroad and welcoming tens of thousands of people to the royal palaces.
Record offshore wind farm profits have seen the Crown Estate net profits for the last financial year and hit £1.1 billion – meaning a record breaking Sovereign Grant of £132million will be handed out next year and the year after. Palace aides say the extra cash will go towards paying for the £369million refit of Buckingham Palace and the upkeep of other royal residences.
However, former Minister of State for Home Affairs Norman Baker slammed Buckingham Palace ‘pretending to be prudent’ as ‘utter hogwash’. He wrote in the Mirror: “Reality check: the Crown Estate has in effect been a public body since 1760, and until 2011, 100% of its profits went to the Treasury to pay for schools, hospitals, defence and, yes, disability benefits. This 12% is a new royal tax on the public purse.”
We asked Mirror readers if they think the royal family is costing the taxpayer too much, and 62 percent said ‘No’. Around 3,169 people took part in our poll, and 1,955 selected the option ‘No – I don’t think so’.
Voicing their thoughts in the comments section, one user said: “The RF are the head of the UK and I love what we have, I am a royalist and I’m very proud to say so. I think the RF bring a lot of tourists to our country. King Charles has scaled down the working royals and has been scaling down on some ceremonies and Prince William has plans to scale back even more and wants to modernise the RF and make it less austere, it seems William and Catherine are doing that already.”
Another echoed: “Westminster Abbey, one of the most popular attractions for oversees tourists, a symbol of British history & the final resting place of revered monarchs, including Queen Elizabeth I & her half sister Queen Mary & famed British icons (Charles Dickens). An unprecedented symbol of hierarchical succession & constitutional monarchy with every coronation conducted there & all monarchs anointed. Tourists want to see symbols of monarchist power, influence & status.”
“Many presidents of other countries are costing a lot more. If you don’t take my word, do your research. On top of that tourists don’t go visiting countries wanting to see any president, but they may do to see a king. Also The cost isn’t only about the king head of state, but other working royals doing complimentary work for the king,” wrote a third.
Another added: “If the Royals bring in more from tourism than is spent on them, that has got to be a win.” However, 38 percent said the Firm is costing the taxpayer too much, as one reader fumed: “All of the information out there and people still believe we aren’t giving these over privileged people too much money, throwing millions at them each year doesn’t make them any better.”
A second wrote: “It is absolutely ridiculous to believe anyone is coming to the UK to catch a glimpse of the King! or the Royal Family! They aren’t in a zoo and they aren’t magical beings from Fairyland. How absurd. No matter how you feel about elected Heads of State, at least they aren’t automatically put in office just for coming out of the womb, and getting oiled up while pals hold up the sheets. Nobody’s spending money and wasting time coming to Britain for that.”
Another voiced: “The monarchy supporters distort the figures. Vastly over estimate any money they bring in (if any), under estimate what they cost. If they were abolished the country would benefit from the companies they own and the taxes they don’t pay.”
Do you think the royal family is costing the taxpayer too much? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and you can still vote in our poll HERE to have your say.
Please note that the poll is still live, so these results may change after the article has been published.
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