King Charles will become the first head of state to reveal his personal tax bill, Buckingham Palace has confirmed, in a move intended to enhance the transparency of royal finances. The 77-year-old monarch will publish his financial details for the 2024-25 financial year next week alongside other reports, as part of what the palace described as an effort to increase the “clarity and accessibility” of the monarchy’s finances.
The decision, made at the king’s own express wish, mirrors the approach he adopted as Prince of Wales. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “The decision to do so as sovereign has come at the express wish of the king himself, as part of the adaptations carried across since accession.”
“King Charles will publish his personal tax bill next week, a first for a UK head of state.”
Charles voluntarily pays income tax on all his private income, and capital gains tax on relevant elements of his assets, under the Memorandum of Understanding on Royal Taxation 2023 agreed by the government. His private sources of income include investments, trading profits, funds from his private estates of Balmoral and Sandringham, and private savings. The Duchy of Lancaster estate – a portfolio of land, investments and property – provided the king with an annual income of £26.8m in 2024-25.
The move contrasts with the approach of his son, the Prince of Wales, 43, who has not disclosed the tax he has paid since becoming heir to the throne. William receives an income from the Duchy of Cornwall, a billion-pound estate that includes The Oval cricket ground and Dartmoor prison, and voluntarily pays the highest rate of income tax once official costs have been deducted – but the amount he pays is not disclosed.
Accounts detailing the sovereign grant, which funds the official duties of the royal family, will be published at a press briefing next week alongside a separate extensive new royal household report on the monarch’s finances. Charles’s 2025-26 tax details will be released next year when the audit has been completed.