It is a figure straight from the world of charm pricing: £99.9m, not £100m — the Sovereign Grant for next year, the public funding that covers the monarchy’s travel, staff and building maintenance. The psychological threshold is deliberate, a recognition that the public is watching and wants value for money.
Yet on the same day the King became the first monarch to reveal his personal tax bill — £12.9m for 2024-2025 — the questions about how transparent the royals really are have only mounted. We know the total, but not how it breaks down: how much comes from the Duchy of Lancaster, from private investments, from Sandringham; how much is income tax versus capital gains tax; what expenses and spending might be set against it. Since coming to the throne in 2022, Charles has paid about £30m in tax — but what he inherited when he became King remains unknown, because royal wills are kept secret and no inheritance tax is paid between a monarch and their successor.
“King Charles reveals £12.9m tax bill but faces questions over transparency as royal travel costs top £3m.”
In presentational terms, paying so much tax unambiguously marks him as a very wealthy individual. The Prince of Wales declared an annual tax payment of £7.76m, placing him among the country’s highest earners. But the very act of disclosure, while unprecedented, has not silenced critics. Amanda Platell, a self-described loyal monarchist, wrote in the Daily Mail: “How can it be right that the King pays less tax than popstars like Harry Styles? Charles’s tax bill has only raised more questions than answers — and I smell a rat.”
The backdrop to this financial transparency drive is the shadow of scandals surrounding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, which fuelled demands from MPs and the public for greater accountability. There has undeniably been a step forward, but the lack of background information on the King’s tax figure leaves a gap.
Meanwhile, the cost of running the monarchy continues to climb. The refurbishment of Buckingham Palace — where the King will not live — is expected to cost £370m. And travel expenses for the royal family topped £3m last year, according to the annual report covering the 12 months to March 2026. Prince William’s three-day official visit to Saudi Arabia in February 2026 was the most costly trip since Charles became King, at £130,106, including two additional planning trips by staff. That just edged out the £126,946 spent on the King and Queen’s four-day state visit to Italy in April 2025.
A total of 37 separate journeys are listed, 13 involving the King. Among them were four royal train trips costing a combined £160,733 — despite Buckingham Palace announcing last year that the train would be taken out of service by 2027 to save money. Overseas, the King’s state visit to the Vatican City in October cost £75,371, where he and Pope Leo XIV made history by praying together in a moment of Anglican-Catholic unity.
As the numbers pile up — the tax bill, the Sovereign Grant, the travel costs — the question remains: how open are the royals really being about their money?