Charles reveals tax bill for the first time, £12.9 million paid; William’s income and the plan for Buckingham Palace also made public

For the first time, King Charles has made public the amount he has paid in taxes, becoming the first monarch in the modern history of the United Kingdom to disclose his tax bill.

The royal annual report and accounts show that for the 2024-2025 financial year he paid £12.9 million in taxes, a level that places him among the 100 biggest taxpayers in Britain.

The same document also reveals that the Prince of Wales, William, has published his own tax payments, declaring £7.76 million in income tax and capital gains tax for the same period.

According to Buckingham Palace, the decision to publish these figures was taken personally by King Charles and Prince William, with the aim of increasing transparency and strengthening the monarchy’s accountability. Royal officials said the move is intended to help the public better understand how the Royal Family’s finances are managed.

The report also states that during the 2023-2024 financial year, King Charles had paid £11.7 million in taxes, while Prince William paid £8.34 million. In total, since 2022, when Charles took the throne and William became heir, the two have together paid more than £50 million in taxes to the British authorities.

However, the document does not provide a detailed breakdown of how the tax liability was calculated. What is known is that the King pays the highest rate of tax.

Prince William, for his part, is funded through the Duchy of Cornwall, a hereditary estate covering around 130,000 hectares and valued at approximately £1 billion, which also includes London’s Oval cricket ground. According to his private secretary, Ian Patrick, the prince pays income tax at the highest rate on all net income after the deduction of allowable costs, which are checked through independent audits.

Another major development made public is that King Charles and Queen Camilla will not move into Buckingham Palace after the restoration works are completed. They will continue living at Clarence House, their residence since 2005.

According to palace officials, this decision was taken to allow greater public access to Buckingham Palace and to increase visitor revenue. The restoration of the building, at a cost of nearly £370 million, is expected to be completed in March next year. This will be the first time since the reign of Queen Victoria that a monarch has chosen not to live in Buckingham Palace.

The financial report also reveals that the Sovereign Grant, the main source of public funding for the monarchy, will rise to £99.9 million a year from the 2027-2028 period. The money will be used for the maintenance of royal residences, improvements to cyber security, and investment in green energy, including replacing the boilers at Windsor Castle.

The document also includes the costs of royal travel. The most expensive trip abroad was Prince William’s three-day visit to Saudi Arabia, costing more than £130,000, while King Charles and Queen Camilla’s four-day state visit to Italy cost around £127,000. During the past year, the Royal Family also made 177 helicopter flights, at a total cost of more than £733,000.

Also made public was Prince William’s decision to give up a personal benefit of £1.5 million a year from the rent of Dartmoor prison. At his request, those funds will be used to support the local community of Princetown, near the prison, which has been closed since 2024 due to high levels of radon gas.

Experts have described the publication of these figures as an important step towards greater transparency in the British monarchy, at a time when calls for more accountability over the Royal Family’s finances have grown ever stronger.