King Charles will get a £45m boost to his salary next year, according to the royal accounts.
This increase of more than 50% in the monarch’s official annual income, known as the sovereign grant, takes its total worth to £132m for 2025-26.
This comes down to the recent £1.1bn profits of the crown estate – 12% of that income is always transferred back to the Royal Family to fund the monarchy and the extensive renovation of Buckingham Palace.
Redoing the monarch’s most famous residence is a 10-year project, costing £369m, expected to be completed around 2027.
Now the crown estate is bringing in more money, the sovereign grant will rise from £86m in 2024-25 to £132m in 2025-26.
According to Sky News, this increase to the royal profits comes from the monarchy’s deals on the seabed, where wind farms can be built.
The royal accounts also showed Prince of Wales, Prince William, received £23.6m from the Duchy of Cornwall in the first full year of inheriting it from Charles.
And last year, £600,000 from the sovereign grant was spent on the coronation and the events around it.
The sovereign grant is set to be reviewed in 2026-27 to check that the amount handed to the Palace is an “appropriate level”.
“A reduction in the absolute amount of the sovereign grant will be sought as part of the royal trustees review in 2026-27,” the King’s Keeper of the Privy Purse , Michael Stevens, said.
But, Republic CEO Graham Smith was furious with the news of the King’s pay rise.
He said: “People rightly complain about the cost of the Rwanda scheme over the last two and a half years, yet we have spent more over the same period on the royals.”
He also wrote on X: “We’ve spent at least £1bn on the royals in the last two years. Estimated £345m a year plus the huge costs of a jubilee, funeral and pointless coronation. And the costs keep rising.
“But of course we can’t afford more for the NHS or child support. #AbolishTheMonarchy.”