King Charles paid £12.9 million in tax for 2024-25, putting him in the top 100 UK taxpayers.
The decision is said to have been made by The King himself, in a move to bring better transparency surrounding royal finances and ‘encourage wider understanding of our accountability.’
Royal finances have been under much scrutiny in recent months, especially after it was revealed that the former Prince Andrew paid only a ‘peppercorn’ rent on Royal Lodge in his over two decades there, prompting a National Audit Office investigation into royal residences.
The findings revealed earlier this month will be used by the Public Accounts Committee to prepare an inquiry into royal finances.
Charles has paid £30m in taxes since 2022
Figures provided by Buckingham Palace show that The King has paid over £30 million in taxes since acceding to the throne in 2022. How the figures were calculated has not been made public.
Monarchs are not legally required to pay tax – Charles does so voluntarily. This was a precedent set by his mother, Elizabeth II, in a 1993 move, though it is something he has carried on with greater transparency, as Elizabeth did not make her tax bill public knowledge.
Most of Charles’ private income comes from the 44,000-acre Duchy of Lancaster, made up of rural land, quarries, and urban developments – a parcel of land that comes automatically with the role of Sovereign. For the 2025-26 year, it paid Charles £25.2 million, but the report does not specify which specific areas of income that this accounts for, nor how much each brought in.
This is covered by one line in the annual report on Buckingham Palace’s expenditure of public money: ‘His Majesty’s tax payable for 2024-25 was £12.9m (2023-24: £11.7m)’
The Sovereign Grant to drop to £100m
The report also revealed that the Sovereign Grant, which funds the official duties of the Monarch including travel, staff wages and hosting costs, increased to £137.9 million in 2025-2026 from £132.1 million in 2024-25. Making up more than £30 million of this figure is the cost for the refurbishment of Buckingham Palace, which first started in 2017 as part of a one-off ten-year project to bring the residence up to date. The project is now in its final year.
Without the additional funding required for the refurbishment, the Sovereign Grant will drop to £99.9 million from 2027-2032. This is calculated on 12% of Crown Estate profits from a year in arrears – however, the Sovereign Grant without the top up for refurbishments for 2024-25 was £51.8 million.
The King does not pay tax on the Sovereign Grant, as it would go into the same fund, the Consolidated Fund, from which it was taken.
Prince William’s £7m tax bill
The report also revealed The Prince of Wales’ tax bill of £7.76 million for the period of 2024-2025. William has not previously disclosed this information, but like his father, ‘recognises the interest in these arrangements and the importance of appropriate transparency’.
To better the visibility on royal finances, a mutual decision was made by The Prince and Princess of Wales to disclose their £300,00 yearly rent on Forest Lodge, last month.
William is privately funded by The Duchy of Cornwall, a 135,000-acre estate spread across England and Wales. He received £22.9 million from the Duchy for 2024-25, the surplus remaining after operational costs are calculated. Since becoming Prince of Wales in 2022, William has paid more than £20 million in taxes on his income.
Together, father and son have paid more than £50 million in taxes to HM Revenue and Customs.
