Juicy pay rise for Prince William – that’s how much money the royals spend a year on a naked protest at the Porsche rally

Job title: Prince of Wales – Annual salary: £24 million. A vacancy could look something like this if the post of the British heir to the throne were not hereditary, but open to applicants.

The first-in-line to the British throne, 41-year-old Prince William can look forward to a huge pay rise in his first full year as Prince of Wales, according to official figures from the palace released on Thursday.

In the past fiscal year (April 5), William had to settle for much less. So he had “only” 5.9 million pounds (about 6.7 million francs) in the salary package, because until the death of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II last September, the income of the Duchy of Cornwall, as the real estate and real estate fund of the The British heir to the throne was not called Will, nor was his father King Charles (74).

All in all, expenditure on the monarchy in the United Kingdom has risen for the second year in a row, according to the annual report of the “Sovereign Grant” – as the state treasury for the duties of the royal family is called. They rose by £5.1m, or 5 per cent, to £107.5m in FY 2022/23, according to the report. Royal advisers blamed the succession to the throne after Elizabeth II’s death, as well as inflation and the ongoing costs of Buckingham Palace’s years of renovation. The additional expenses were financed from reserves.

The individual items showed a mixed picture. The royal family’s travel expenses fell by £600,000 to £3.9 million. Conversely, property management and maintenance costs increased by £1.3m to £2.4m and staff costs by £3.4m to £27.1m. This was also due to a salary increase of 5 to 6 percent.

Individual points stand out: for the charter flights alone, the royal couple paid more than £140,000 for their visit to Germany in March. The Royals spent more than a million pounds on 179 helicopter rides. A single domestic UK charter flight from Aberdeen in Scotland to Northolt Air Base in London cost almost £25,700.

In total, the so-called Sovereign Grant amounted to £86.3 million, just like last year. Of this, £51.8 million is for the official duties of the King and his household and £34.5 million for ongoing refurbishments.

A year like it hasn’t been in decades

The palace’s chief financial officer, Michael Stevens, as the so-called Keeper of the Privy Purse, spoke of a “year of mourning, change and celebration the likes of which our nation has not seen in seven decades”. The reporting period included celebrations for the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne, the period of mourning over the death of the Queen and the start of the reign of the new King Charles III, but not his coronation.

Meanwhile, the republican organization, which advocates the abolition of the monarchy, presented its own figures. According to her, the royals are much more expensive for the taxpayer. As a result, the total cost, including police protection and other expenses, is £345 million. “That’s enough to pay 13,000 new nurses or teachers,” Republican chief Graham Smith said in a statement.

The accession of the new monarch, who is considered a pioneer in climate and environmental protection, is also reflected in the report. Heating in Buckingham Palace and other royal properties has been reduced to 19 degrees Celsius to reduce emissions. In unused rooms of the spacious castle, the thermostat was even turned back to 16 degrees. The palace just missed its self-imposed goal of filling at least 10 percent of its staff with applicants from an ethnic minority. In 2025, that share must have risen to 14 percent. (before/sda)