UK taxpayers will pay an additional £27.3 million over the next two years to cover the royal family in the midst of a cost of living crisis.
The Sovereign Grant, which covers the cost of items including royal staff salaries to travel and refurbishment of Buckingham Palace, is currently set
at £86.3m.
In normal circumstances the cash pool would reduce by a total of £27m over
the next two years because of the Crown Estate’s fall in profits. But it will now remain at £86.3m at the near £30m expense of taxpayers.
The public have former prime minister
David Cameron’s government to thank for this, after they inserted a “golden ratchet” clause meaning the level of the grant cannot be reduced whatever the state of the economy.
Royal spending rose 17% in the fiscal year through April 2022 to £102.4 million, the family’s latest accounts released Thursday in London show.
The accounts showed 29% jump in the £69.3 million cost of maintaining the monarch’s properties, including Buckingham Palace, St. James’s Palace, Windsor Castle and other royal residences.
