Royal Family claim £102m from taxpayers as nation…

Royal Family claim £102m from taxpayers as nation battles cost of living crisis

A new report has revealed the Royal Family cost taxpayers £102.4million last year. As ordinary Brits struggled with the cost of living crisis, spending on the royals soared by an inflation busting 17%, the £15m rise taking the figure over £100m for the first time.

One of the reasons for the hike is the multi-million-pound renovation of Buckingham Palace, as spending on it rose to £63.9million, up £14.4million on the previous year, as work intensified in the run up to the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, reports the Mirror. The Sovereign Grant Report shows that last year, as in-person royal visits resumed following the pandemic, their travel costs rocketed from £1.3m to £4.5m.

Royal finances expert Norman Baker said: "The Government should have a complete rethink of how taxpayers' money is allocated to the Royal Family. We have no say in how the royals choose to use private jets or helicopters, which are all paid for out of the public purse, and while ordinary people are struggling it isn’t right."

The report revealed the 10-year Buckingham Palace renovation project could be on target to cost £369m. Delivering the Sovereign Grant Report, Keeper of the Privy Purse, Sir Michael Stevens, said: "There was a significant increase in work against a hard deadline to enable Buckingham Palace to be at the centre of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations. We were pleased to deliver against our plans."

He added: "The year was not without operational and financial challenges. Covid meant we had another year in which access to the Royal Palaces was restricted for The Royal Collection Trust, which again affected our ability to help self-finance our work on behalf of the nation."

Disgraced Andrew gets nothing from the Sovereign Grant (Neil Hall/PA Wire)

Meanwhile Prince William and Kate’s ill-fated trip to the Caribbean, where the future king admitted he had not been alive to anti-monarchy sentiment in Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas, cost £226,000 in flights and accommodation. And Prince Charles, despite campaigning on environmental issues, still flies between his royal residences at an average cost of £15,000 a time.

The report also revealed the Queen’s royal train cost £100,000 for just three outings last year, but is now exclusively powered by "hydro treated vegetable oil", royal sources revealed. Disgraced Prince Andrew, now a non-working royal, no longer qualifies for public funding and gets nothing from the Sovereign Grant and is thought to be exclusively funded privately by his mother.

Harry and Meghan are now paying for themselves - the Prince of Wales no longer funds them after they ditched their royal roles seeking "financial independence". After they shed their life as working royals in 2020 they signed £100m worth of deals with streaming giants Netflix and Spotify.

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