How much does the royal family cost? A breakdown of the key figures

Some 2,300 official royal engagements were carried out in the UK and overseas despite the health challenges of the royal family over the past year.

Buckingham Palace has released the annual Sovereign Grant accounts which details its funding (Anthony Devlin/PA) (PA Archive)

Here are some of the key figures from the royal accounts for 2023-2024.

– £132 million

The amount of Sovereign Grant the monarchy will receive in 2025/26 because of the Crown Estate wind farm deal profits – a boost of £45.7 million.

– £86.3 million

The total taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant in 2023-24, made up of £51.8 million for the “core” funding and an extra £34.5 million for the reservicing of Buckingham Palace.

– £89.1 million

Official net expenditure by the monarchy, a fall of £18.4 million or 17% from £107.5 million 2022/2023.

– 2

New helicopters the Royal Household will take delivery of in 2024-25.

– £1.096 million

Cost of 170 helicopter journeys made by members of the royal family costing less than £17,000 each.

– £800,000

Amount from the Sovereign Grant spent overall on the Coronation, including resizing the Imperial State Crown and work on the King and Queen’s robes.

– 523

Full-time equivalent staff paid for from the Sovereign Grant, including fixed term contracts, compared with 517 last year.

– £27.9 million

The wage bill for staff, up £800,000 from £27.1 million the year before.

– £2.6 million

Cost of housekeeping and hospitality for the royal household, up £200,000 from £2.4 million.

– £ 4.2 million

Cost of official royal travel, a rise of £300,000 from £3.9 million the previous year.

– £166,557

The most expensive journey – King and Queen’s visit to Kenya by charter flights, along with a separate staff planning visit by scheduled flights.

– £117,942

Cost of Charles and Camilla’s charter flight to Paris and Bordeaux for three-day state visit to France.

– £1.29

Cost per person in the UK of funding the total Sovereign Grant in 2023/24.

– 77p

Cost per person of the “core” part of the Sovereign Grant for official duties, not including funds for the long-term Buckingham Palace works in 2023/24.

– 27,000

Messages from well-wishers to the King and Princess of Wales.

– 31,000

Congratulatory messages for the coronation.

– 138,000

Total number of correspondence to which the Royal Household responded.

– 11.4%

Proportion of staff from ethnic minority backgrounds working for Buckingham Palace, compared with 9.7% in 2022-2023. The target is 14% by 2025.

– 14%

Proportion of staff from ethnic minority backgrounds working for Kensington Palace. (16.3% last year).

– 2,300 

Official engagements by members of the royal family in the UK and overseas, compared with 2,700 last year.

– 105,000

Guests at official residences attending 400 events, compared with 95,000 guests last year at 330 events.

– £19.8 million

Income earned to supplement the Sovereign Grant – an increase of 102% from £9.8 million last year because of return to near pre-Covid  levels of visitors to Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.

– £23.6 million

Prince of Wales’s private income from the Duchy of Cornwall estate.

– 66

Number of staff in the Prince and Princess of Wales’s household, rising from 50.