King Charles' visit to Northern Ireland in March cost £80k in travel expenses

Belfast Telegraph

4 days ago

It was the second most expensive trip made by the royal family in the past year.
Other trips here, taken by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Duke of Edinburgh, cost an additional £40,000.
There are 43 separate journeys by royal family members listed in the official report for 2024/25, where travel costs were at least £17,000, up from 27 trips in 2023/24.
Some 13 of these involved the King, an increase from eight in the previous year.
These included the most expensive trip during the period: the 11-day visit by Charles and the Queen to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa in October 2024, which included engagements in Australia and which had travel costs totalling £400,535.
The King was also involved in the second most expensive trip on the list: the three-day visit with the Queen to Northern Ireland in March (£80,139).
The couple were hosted by well-known publican Willie Jack in Belfast, enjoying a tipple of whiskey during their visit.
Charles was also briefed on research into cancer therapies at the Ulster University campus in Coleraine, while Camilla took part in a cookery demonstration at a farm near Limavady with celebrity chef Paula McIntyre.
The royal couple also enjoyed a stop-off in Banbridge on their final day.
Their travel costs included a charter flight and use of a helicopter between Hillsborough, Limavady and Coleraine.
Other NI visits included one by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester last September, which had a travel bill of £20,911.
The pair visited the Ulster Folk Museum and attended the Northern Ireland Opera.
The bill also took in a charter flight onwards to Manchester, where they attended a Davis Cup tennis tie.
A third visit, this time by the Duke of Edinburgh, had £18,368 travel costs.
Edward visited St Catherine's College in Armagh and a Duke of Edinburgh reception at Hillsborough Castle.
Separately, a chartered flight for the Princess Royal, to attend the Scotland vs Ireland Six Nations match in February, cost £21,250.
The newly published accounts reveal that a visit by the Prince of Wales to Estonia in March had travel costs of £55,846. This included two earlier journeys by staff for planning purposes.
King Charles and Queen Camilla visit Banbridge
A two-day trip by the King on the royal train in February to Staffordshire, to visit the JCB factory in Rocester and the Tower Brewery in Burton upon Trent, cost £44,822, while a two-day trip by the Duke of Edinburgh to Estonia in January to visit the Royal Dragoon Guards while on a military operation cost £39,791.
Of the 13 trips involving the King that appear on the list, eight were undertaken with the Queen and five by himself.
The King's other costs included a charter flight with the Queen between royal residences in April 2024 (£21,184), and a two-day trip on the royal train to Crewe in May 2024 (£33,147).
A two-day visit with the Queen to northern France in June 2024 for the D-Day 80th anniversary commemorations cost £29,890), while a two-day visit with the Queen to the Channel Islands in July 2024 had travel costs of £28,872.
Meanwhile, the King is bidding the 'fondest of farewells' to the royal train after approving its decommissioning following decades of service.
Charles and other royals will rely on two new helicopters when the nine-carriage train's maintenance contract ends in early 2027, according to the accounts.
James Chalmers, Keeper of the Privy Purse, described the move as an example of the royal household applying 'fiscal discipline' in its drive to deliver 'value for money'.