King Charles will never live at Buckingham Palace despite £369m taxpayer-funded refurbishment

King Charles will never live at Buckingham Palace despite £369m taxpayer-funded refurbishment King Charles's official London residence will remain as Clarence House and not Buckingham Palace once refurbishment work at the famous building is completed next year, it has been confirmed The King will never live at Buckingham Palace - despite taxpayers paying £369milllon to renovate the historic palace. The iconic building will remain the operational centre of “monarchy HQ” after a decade long renovation project finishes next year, but Charles has decided it will not be the official residence of his reign. The King and Queen will continue to live at nearby Clarence House in London, while the monarch continues to keep homes in Scotland, Gloucestershire and Norfolk, as well as using Windsor Castle in Berkshire. The decision ends nearly 200 years of history of the monarch being based at Buckingham Palace, since Queen Victoria took up residence in 1837. Royal aides said the world-famous landmark would continue to welcome thousands of guests every year, from incoming world leaders on State Visits, to community heroes attending investitures and garden parties. “His Majesty retains huge affection for Buckingham Palace and a deep respect for its role in royal and public life,” a palace spokesperson argued. It will be a buzzing hive of royal activity in every other way”. On the publication of the annual report into royal finances today, it emerged how the King will benefit from an inflation-busting pay rise - with core funding of the monarchy ballooning to £100 million a year, almost doubling in the space of three years. Under a new formula for calculating the Sovereign Grant, which pays for the royal family’s official duties and the upkeep of royal palaces, the Royal Household is to receive £99.9 million as a core grant in 2027-28, a jump of £48.1 million compared with the core grant of £51.8 million in 2024-25. The change was decided upon by Royal Trustees - outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, and the King’s Keeper of the Privy Purse and Treasurer James Chalmers. Aides said the boost will be used to pay for a backlog in maintenance at occupied royal palaces, strengthen cyber security at royal residences, and for the installation of energy efficient heating systems - with £11 million set aside to replace boilers nearing the end of their life at Windsor Castle. Mr Chalmers insisted the funding was “not a blank cheque” and there were strict value for money requirements. However, royal finance experts and former Privy Council member Norman Baker, said: “The Royal Family is proving hugely expensive. If Charles wants to have his slimmed-down monarchy, there should be a slimmed-down bill to the taxpayer to go with it.” Accounts were published for the Sovereign Grant - the funding from the Treasury that is used by the royal household to pay for official duties - as well as the King’s personal fortune from the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall, which Prince William inherited when he became Prince of Wales. The figures showed for the first time that future king William is richer than the King, with a net worth via the Duchy of £1.2billion. In contrast, Charles was listed in the Sunday Times Rich List as having a personal fortune of £640 million - an increase of £30million from the previous year. In a bid to be more transparent with the way the royal family is funded, the King has become the first monarchy in history to reveal his private tax payment. Charles this year revealed has paid more than £30m in tax since becoming King in 2022. The latest figures show he paid £12.9 million in 2024-25 and £11.7m for 2023-24. The Prince of Wales contributed £7.76m in income and capital gains tax in 2024-25, and £8.34m in 2023-24. It has also emerged William will give back the £1.5 million annual rent generated by the abandoned Dartmoor Prison. The prince has asked for the sum to be removed from the multimillion-pound income he receives as heir to the throne from the Duchy of Cornwall from 2026-27 onwards, with the money spent on regenerating the local community instead. The Prince and Princess of Wales have recently moved to a new eight bedroom mansion on the Windsor estate, described by friends as their “forever home”. William and Kate have signed a long term lease on the property, costing £307,200 a year. Sources close to the couple suggest they have no intention of ever living at Buckingham Palace or their former residence Kensington Palace when William becomes King. Mr Baker, author of Royal Mint, National Debt added: “It seems that a lot of money has just been wasted. If Charles doesn’t want to live at Buckingham Palace that’s fine, but it should be totally opened up full-time with all the ticket sales going back to the treasury to pay for the refurbishment work. It’s outrageous. “And it appears William has been forced into an embarrassing U-turn by revealing his tax bill. It is a very welcome step forward but there should be more information with a full breakdown of their tax bill and what they are claiming as expenses.” A temporary decade-long uplift to the Sovereign Grant was put in place from 2017 to pay for the £369 million overhaul of Buckingham Palace. The refurbishments are coming to an end in 2027, when the annual overall grant will fall from £137.9 million, which includes both core funding and the Buckingham Palace renovations funds, in 2026-27, to a core funding of £99.9 million in 2027-28. The new figure will be, however, almost double the core grant of £51.8 million in 2024-25, and £27.8 million above the core grant of £72.1 million in 2025-26. The official funding of around £100 million a year is set to continue for a period of five years, until the next review, because Crown Estate profits, which benefited previously from a major boost from offshore wind farms, are expected to be “significantly impacted” as Offshore Wind option fees cease, the Royal Household’s report on royal finances revealed. In 2016-17, before the start of the Palace renovations, the Sovereign Grant for official duties and general official residence upkeep was £42.8 million – a figure, which according to the Bank of England inflation calculator, would today be worth £60.4 million. The Royal Trustees decided in their review that the Sovereign Grant will be 20.5% of Crown Estate net profits from 2027-28, rather than the current rate of 12%, for five years. Mr Chalmers added: “It is important to emphasise that the Sovereign Grant does not provide personal income to members of the Royal Family. It funds the work of the institution – not private lives or private wealth.” The Sovereign Grant is met from public funds in exchange for the King’s surrender of the revenue from the Crown Estate, two years in arrears. The Crown Estate’s 2025-26 annual accounts, published on Thursday, showed a net revenue profit of £487 million - down from £1.1 billion in 2023/4. The King and Queen undertook 104 more public engagements during 2025-26 than in the previous year, with a 15% increase in the number of journeys taken by senior members of the royal family. Royals spend £3m on travel The royal family spent more than £3million on travel last year, including £160,733 on just four journeys on the Royal Train. The Prince of Wales topped the annual list of the most expensive royal trips for the first time since his father became King. William’s official three-day visit to Saudi Arabia in February 2026 on behalf of the UK government cost a total of £130,106, including spending on two additional planning trips by staff. This was just ahead of the £126,946 in travel costs for the King and Queen’s four-day state visit to Italy in April 2025. William’s official tour of Brazil to host his Earthshot Awards and attend the COP summit cost £79,000. The figures have been published as part of the royal family’s yearly report on its finances, detailing money spent on the official engagements of the royal family. The royals took 177 helicopter journeys at a total cost of £733,063 - working out at £4,000 per trip. Royal aides said all circumstances were considered including the King and Queen’s ability to travel the country and security. The report covers the 12 months to March 2026 and includes a breakdown of all journeys by family members where travel costs were at least £20,000. Buckingham Palace closing gender pay gap For the second year in a row, the royal household had matched its record for employing more women than men - with a 54% proportion of female employees. Buckingham Palace is leading the way on closing the gender pay gap, with the mean gap standing at 4.29% , which is way below the national average with stands at 12.8% However, the palace’s proportion of ethnic minority employees decreased slightly , from 12.1% to 11.9%. The Sovereign Grant report states the royal household acknowledged the percentage remained below its long term ambition of 18%, aligned with UK census data and previous target of 14% set in December 2025.