THE cost of Britain’s royal family to the UK taxpayer rose by 5% over the past year, the annual financial report of King Charles III’s household showed today.

Royal aides put the rise in expenditure partly down to the change of monarchs following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September last year and the succession of her son Charles in May this year.

The cost of Elizabeth’s funeral and Charles’s coronation however are not included in the financial report.

Other main drivers of expenditure include a 10-year programme of upgrades to electrical cabling, plumbing and heating at Buckingham Palace, the monarch’s official residence.

The figure for net expenditure increased by £5.1 million (RM30.1 million), or 5%, to £107.5 million for 2022-3.

The amount the royal family received from the public purse via the Sovereign Grant remained unchanged at £86.3 million 2022-3.

Spending on travel dropped by £600,000 to £3.9 million, while housekeeping and hospitality rose from £1.3 million to £2.4 million. Property maintenance fell £6.1 million to £57.8 million.

Staff costs rose by 3.4 million to 27.1 million with staff given a pay rise of 5-6%.

The report also revealed that the royal household has failed again to meet its diversity target, set in 2021, of drawing 10% of its workforce from ethnic minorities, with the 2023 figure of 9.7% the same as last year. 

The Sovereign Grant pays for the monarch’s official duties and upkeep of royal palaces.

The UK is currently in the grip of a cost of living crisis, with inflation hitting 8.7% last month. – AFP, June 29, 2023.