Charles III has paid more than 34 million euros in taxes since he has been on the throne

LondonKing Charles III has paid more than 34 million euros in taxes since he ascended the throne next to the death of Queen Elizabeth II, as revealed this Thursday night by Buckingham Palace, in what a spokesperson has described as "an unprecedented exercise in transparency". It is the first time the British royal household has published the monarch's personal tax bill. Since 1993, the sovereigns have voluntarily paid taxes on income and capital gains. Legally, however, they are not obliged to.

The details of tax payments specify that Charles III has paid 13.57 million euros for the 2023-24 financial year and 14.97 million for 2024-25. Buckingham Palace has not broken down the amount corresponding to the first months of his reign (September 2022 - March 31, 2023, when the fiscal year closes in the United Kingdom), but states that the total paid since his accession to the throne exceeds the aforementioned 34 million euros. Charles III is part of the group of the hundred most privileged individuals who pay the most to the British Treasury.

On the other hand, the royal household has also announced that Charles III and the Queen will not be settling into Buckingham Palace, formalizing a decision that was already taken as a given until now. This confirms the first change of official residence for a British monarch in almost two hundred years, breaking the tradition established by Queen Victoria. Clarence House, 250 metres from Buckingham, will become the official residence of the royal couple in London, while the palace, currently undergoing a 429 million euro renovation, will continue to be the administrative headquarters of the British royal family.

The publication of the monarch's tax settlements coincides with the dissemination of Sovereign Grant report, the document that, amidst a certain fog, details how public money intended for the maintenance of the monarchical institution is spent. It is striking that while the British government demands budgetary sacrifices from ministries – especially the Ministry of Defence, reason why the person in charge of the portfolio recently resigned– and to public services, the monarchy's accounts show a very healthy reality.

Public and private funds

Charles III and Prince William have a unique financing system that combines a generous direct contribution from the state with millionaire income from two major historical estates: the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, respectively. The former provided the King with 33.30 million euros during the 2024/25 financial year. Officially, this money is part of the so-called Privy Purse, a fund intended to cover the monarch's private expenses and also some official activities not funded by the state.

The heir to the Crown, Prince William, does not precisely depend on a salary either. The Duchy of Cornwall, which automatically passes to the Prince of Wales, has generated a net income of 26.56 million euros for him during the same period. It is a multi-million euro estate that includes agricultural land, residential and commercial properties, and other investments mainly spread across the southwest of England.

The public subsidy that finances the Crown's official activities – the Sovereign Grant – will increase this 2026-2027 financial year to 160 million euros, a very significant rise compared to the 100.2 million recorded just two years ago. The increase consolidates a clearly upward trend that has fueled criticism about the institution's real cost.

During the previous financial year (2025-26), the sovereign grant had already reached 153.26 million euros, after being frozen since 2021-22. Of this amount, 78.31 million – more than half – was allocated to the conservation of occupied royal palaces and, above all, to the modernization works of Buckingham Palace. From 2027, once these works are completed, the allocation will be reduced to 115.90 million annually for the period 2027-2032. All in all, this implies that, despite the planned reduction, the monarchy's ordinary expenditure will continue to be notably higher: from April 2027, the budget for the daily operation of the institution will increase by more than 29 million euros, more or less, by 33%.

The system's proponents argue that this money does not strictly come from taxes, but from the profits of the Crown Estate, the enormous real estate and territorial heritage linked to the Crown. But this justification is increasingly questioned. The Sovereign Grant report itselfcollects the criticisms of various experts who consider the relationship between the profits of the Crown Estate and the financing of the monarchy to be "artificial." To the point that the former cabinet secretary, Andrew Turnbull, goes so far as to state that the mechanism creates the "false impression" that the Crown finances itself when, in reality, the resources enter the Treasury and it is the state that subsequently decides to transfer them to the royal family.

24 billion in assets

And while for the first time the taxes paid by Charles III have been reported, the fiscal issue is another of the anomalies highlighted by the Sovereign Grant report. Neither the king nor the heir has a legal obligation to pay taxes. This situation continues to be exceptional, as the fiscal compliance of the main figures of the monarchy does not derive from a legal obligation approved by Parliament, but from a non-binding agreement between the Treasury and the royal household.

Another grey area continues to be the king's personal fortune. The report admits that income from his private investments, as well as the inheritance from Queen Elizabeth II, are not made public. At the time of the coronation, however, The New York Times published that the royal family's total fortune amounted to around 24 billion euros.

In summary, the document offers some clues but few certainties. There is no record that Charles III directly finances his brother, Prince Andrew, but it is recalled that Queen Elizabeth II covered with personal resources the out-of-court settlement that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, former Duke of York, reached with Virginia Giuffre in 2022.

In a country where public healthcare waiting lists are breaking records and some town halls –Birmingham, the country's second-largest city– are declaring financial bankruptcy, the debate about the real cost of the monarchy is once again at the center of British politics. The publication of Charles III's income tax bill attempts to quell any controversy surrounding the monarchy, the only institution in the United Kingdom that no one, or practically no one, questions.