Property maintenance rose 48 percent to 29.7 million pounds, payroll was 32.4 million and the King’s published tax bill was 12.9 million, so the account has two columns
The monarchy is often discussed as a feeling and rarely as a workload. The Royal Trustees’ Sovereign Grant Review 2026 contains a few plain numbers for 2025-26 that make a good starting point. Their Majesties undertook 708 engagements, 104 more than in 2024-25. Property maintenance spending rose 48 percent to 29.7 million pounds. Payroll costs totalled 32.4 million pounds. The report does not explain how joint engagements are counted, so the 708 figure is best read as a measure of the volume of public activity, not as a count of working days.
What 708 Means
Divided across the year, 708 engagements is a little under two a day. That is a misleading way to read it, because engagements cluster around state occasions, overseas visits, investitures and the long list of patronages. A week of ceremonial duty can contain many engagements, and a quiet week can contain few. What the increase of 104 shows is a household that is doing more in public than it was a year earlier,.
A fair reading is that the head of state remains active and that the volume of work has grown. A sceptical reading asks what the engagements achieve. Both questions are legitimate, and the report speaks only to the first. It is an account of activity, not of outcome. Our own note on the King declaring himself too tired for this takes the sceptical line with a wink, and the figures at least suggest the opposite to the joke.
The Cost of the Buildings
The 48 percent rise in property maintenance spending, to 29.7 million pounds, is the largest figure in the set. The report forecasts a continued increase in core property maintenance, from 29.3 million to 36.7 million pounds over 2027-28 to 2031-32, addressing a maintenance backlog. In other words, the buildings are older than their budgets, and catching up is costing more each year. The Star’s republication of a BBC report adds that the extra funds will cover maintenance backlogs, cyber security and energy-efficient heating, with 11 million pounds earmarked for Windsor Castle boilers.
Property is the unavoidable cost of a monarchy that works from historic buildings. A head of state who held receptions in modern offices would spend less, and would also represent less. The question of whether the buildings are worth keeping is a political one. The numbers set out what keeping them costs.
The People
Payroll costs of 32.4 million pounds are forecast to rise to 40.8 million pounds by the end of the review period, from 33.8 million in the first forecast year. The report does not break down the headcount or the pay scales. A household of this kind employs a wide range of people, from private secretaries to housekeepers and gardeners, and the cost of employing them rises with wages across the economy. It is hard to criticise a household for paying wages that follow the market.
The Royal Train
One cost is ending. The Royal Train is due to be decommissioned at the end of 2026-27. The report gives no further detail, and I will not speculate about the reasons. As a symbol, it is notable: a specially maintained railway carriage is a very traditional piece of royal equipment, and its end suggests that the household is looking for savings where it can. Whether the saving is large or small is not stated.
What the King Pays
The other column of the account is tax. The BBC report republished by The Star says the King paid 12.9 million pounds in tax for 2024-25 and 11.7 million pounds for 2023-24, which it says places him among the UK’s top 100 taxpayers, and that he is the first monarch to publish tax payments. It also records the keeper of the Privy Purse, James Chalmers, describing a change from the past and a recognition of the future, in the context of the palace decision. The tax figures are reported as facts, and a reader who wants to see how they are calculated should look at the household’s own publication.
It is worth placing them next to the Grant. The Grant for 2026-27 is 137.9 million pounds, and it falls to 99.9 million pounds in 2027-28. A published tax payment of 12.9 million pounds is a small fraction of that, and the two sums are not directly comparable, since the tax is paid on income that is not the Grant. But the fact of publication is new, and it responds to a long-running demand for transparency. Our look at the royal family’s new communications strategy makes the same point from a different angle.
Accountability
The report is itself a form of accountability. The Royal Trustees are the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Keeper of the Privy Purse, which means the review is partly conducted by the household’s own officer. A critic would say that is not independent. A defender would say that the figures are published, audited and open to scrutiny by the National Audit Office and Parliament. The truth is probably that the system is more open than it was and less independent than some would like.
Former Liberal Democrat minister Norman Baker’s argument, recorded in the same BBC report, is that palace visitor revenue should go to the Treasury. It is a minority view in Parliament but it keeps the question alive.
The Fair Summary
The 2025-26 account shows a household that did more, spent more on its buildings and paid more attention to its public record. The next five years bring a flat grant against rising costs, a palace that is nearly finished and a train that is going out of service. Our piece on the Princess of Wales and a perfect curtsy is a reminder that the public watches the family closely, and numbers like these are part of what the public weighs.
For more royal coverage, see our royal family news page, and for the wider magazine visit Bohiney Magazine. For a lighter view of the household, The Daily Mash has the best record. As for the Royal Train, the sensible farewell is a quiet one, and a timetable.
SOURCE: bohiney.com
