King Charles has become the first British monarch to publicly disclose his tax bill, revealing he paid £12.9m to HM Revenue and Customs for the 2024-25 financial year – a sum that places him among the UK’s top 100 taxpayers.
The disclosure, published in the annual royal report and accounts, was a personal decision by the King and his elder son, the Prince of Wales. Buckingham Palace described the move as “increasing transparency and aimed to encourage wider understanding of our accountability.”
“King Charles became the first British monarch to publicly disclose his tax bill, paying £12.9m for 2024-25.”
Prince William declared tax payments of £7.76m for the same period. The combined tax bill of father and son since Charles became monarch in 2022 has now exceeded £50m. In the previous year, the King paid £11.7m and William £8.34m.
The King voluntarily pays income tax and capital gains tax at the highest rate, though the accounts provide no detailed breakdown of how the figures are calculated. His main income derives from the Duchy of Lancaster, a portfolio of land, investments and properties that generated £25.2m in 2025-26. Additional taxable income comes from his own investments and private estates at Balmoral and Sandringham.
Prince William receives an income from the Duchy of Cornwall, a £1bn, 130,000-acre hereditary estate that includes the Oval cricket ground. His private secretary, Ian Patrick, said: “Prince William pays income tax at the highest rate on any net surplus after those costs have been met. Those costs are independently audited to ensure that any deductions are appropriate. The prince recognises the interest in these arrangements and the importance of appropriate transparency.”
The King’s personal wealth remains a matter of debate. The Sunday Times Rich List, published in May, values his fortune at £680m, up from £640m the previous year. However, the newspaper said: “More than three years into his reign, the magnitude of the King’s wealth continues to divide opinion. Some commentators insist that Charles III is a billionaire, arguing that the Duchy of Lancaster and even the Crown Estate are his personal assets. We disagree.” The Sunday Times excluded the King’s art and jewellery collections from the total, arguing they are “held in trust by him as sovereign for his successors and the nation.” An alternative estimate by the Guardian, around the time of his coronation in May 2023, placed the figure at approximately £1.815bn, including assets such as the royal car collection.
The accounts also reveal that the King and Queen Camilla will continue to live at Clarence House rather than move into Buckingham Palace. The Sovereign Grant, the main annual public funding for the Royal Household, is set to rise to just under £100m for the year 2027-28.