Prince moves house - and taxpayers pick up the bill

The taxpayer will pick up most of the bill for Prince Charles's £6m move from St James's Palace to Clarence House, his late grandmother's home. But the Prince of Wales let it be known yesterday that he will pay for the removal men and the cost of decorating a set of rooms for his companion, Camilla Parker Bowles.

The £4.5m renovation project by the interior designer Robert Kime is being paid for by public funds set aside for palace maintenance.

Prince Charles, who took up residence in his new official home yesterday, the anniversary of the Queen Mother's birth, is to spend £1.65m of his own money on an en-suite bedroom for Mrs Parker Bowles and other refurbishment in the 19th-century building.

A St James's Palace spokeswoman said yesterday that Prince Charles would also pay to move his furniture out of St James's Palace as well as the cost of transferring his offices. Buckingham Palace advisers had recently made it known that the Queen was not prepared to allow public funds to be spent decorating Mrs Parker Bowles's private rooms.

This meant workmen would decorate the bedroom and the bathroom to "a basic finish'', leaving the Prince of Wales to pay for bringing his companion's rooms up to the standard of the rest of the building.

But the St James's Palace spokeswoman insisted yesterday that "it had never been intended" that the Queen or the public would pay for the refurbishment of Mrs Parker Bowles's private rooms. She said that it was "utter nonsense" to suggest otherwise.

The public purse will pay for the decoration of the rest of Clarence House, which was built between 1825 and 1827. There has been no refurbishment of the residence since 1947. Prince Charles's advisers claim that the £4.5m cost of updating Clarence House was "urgently required to preserve this historic building as part of the national heritage".

Under Prince Charles's refurbishment scheme, new works of art have been introduced but the arrangement of the rooms and the furniture is mostly the same.

The reputation of Robert Kime is built on a string of interior design projects commissioned by the rich and famous, including Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Mr Kime's website describes him as a "decorator who is on the side of life" and gives a hint of the kind of decor that the public is paying for at Clarence House. The website declares: "Not for him the pared-back, pastel-walled look or environments which people are supposed to admire rather than enjoy.''

His own office, says the website, is a testament to "his love of solid, well-rounded objects of whatever date''. Mr Kime says he likes these kind of pieces because many of them "are not 18th century" and the furniture "is great if you don't have too much of it all in one eyeful".

Princes William and Harry, who will also use the house, have picked more modern designs for their rooms.

Prince Charles hosted two parties at Clarence House yesterday to allow the Queen Mother's former domestic staff to have a preview of the finished work and to thank the builders for their efforts.

The heir to the throne lived at the building, which is situated off the Mall and close to Buckingham Palace, between the ages of one and three.

From tomorrow, members of the public can pay £5 to take a guided tour of the five rooms on the ground floor and judge for themselves whether or not the money has been well spent.

WHAT WILL CHARLES GET FOR £6m?

¿ About £4.5m from parliamentary grant-in-aid will pay for structural work including the removal of all asbestos from the building. It will also fund the cost of fire safety work and the updating of the gas, electrical and water services.

¿ £1.65m of Prince Charles's personal funds from the income he receives from the Duchy of Cornwall estate. This covers the full refurbishment of one bedroom and a bathroom for the exclusive use of his companion Camilla Parker Bowles. The remainder is to be spent on the cost of the soft furnishings - carpets and curtains - as well as £78,000 on painting and decorating.