King scraps Royal Train as full cost of monarchy and family is revealed
New figures show how much the Royal Family cost last year - with prices for helicopter travel, foreign visits and running households
Charles arrives on the Royal Train, pulled by a steam locomotive at Cardiff Central Rail Station
The King is bidding the 'fondest of farewells' to the royal train after approving its decommissioning following decades of service. Charles and other members of the royal family will rely on two new helicopters when the nine-carriage train stops running ahead of a maintenance contract ending in early 2027, according to the annual royal 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'. The annual accounts showed the Sovereign Grant, which supports the official duties of the royal family, will remain for a fourth consecutive year at £86.3 million, while royal travel increased by £500,000 to £4.7 million and payroll costs were up £2 million to £29.9 million.
The King is said to have fond memories of the train, which features a carriage created for Charles in the mid-1980s which he still uses now he is King, and the Prince of Wales is aware and supports the decommissioning decision. Mr Chalmers said: 'The royal train, of course, has been part of national life for many decades, loved and cared for by all those involved.
'But in moving forward we must not be bound by the past. Just as so many parts of the royal household's work have been modernised and adapted to reflect the world of today, so too, the time has come to bid the fondest of farewells, as we seek to be disciplined and forward-looking in our allocation of funding.
'With His Majesty's support it has therefore been decided that the process to decommission the royal train will commence next year.'
The rundown of royal finances – from April 1 2024 to March 31 2025 – covers the months following the King and the Princess of Wales's double cancer diagnosis and the majority of 2024 – the year described by the Prince of Wales as 'brutal' and probably the hardest of his life.
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Charles made a rapid return to public-facing duties in April, while Kate made a more gradual one after revealing in September she had finished her chemotherapy treatment, and later confirmed at the start of 2025 that she was cancer free. Mr Chalmers said that after returning to public-facing duties in April 2024, the King '… demonstrated remarkable resilience by undertaking a wide programme of public and state duties at home and overseas while continuing to receive treatment, demonstrating not only His Majesty's personal commitment to duty but also the adaptability and resilience of the royal household in ensuring continuity of service, no matter the personal circumstances'.
Accounts were also released for William's Duchy of Cornwall, which provides him with a private income of nearly £23 million and has launched a policy review of the rents it receives from charities and grassroots community groups. The royal train was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth II and the late Duke of Edinburgh and was decorated and furnished to meet the needs of senior royals, and in 2020 William and Kate made a 1,250-mile train journey over three days to thank key and frontline workers and communities for their efforts during the pandemic.
The annual accounts state the decision was taken for a number of reasons including the cost of storing and maintaining the train against its level of use, significant investment was needed to keep the train in use beyond 2027 and the new helicopters were reliable alternatives. Mr Chalmers said: 'Before it finally goes out of service, it is our hope that the train will make further visits to parts of the UK, while discussions will begin on finding a long-term home where some particularly historic elements might go on public display.'
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's former home, Frogmore Cottage, remains empty for a second year after they officially vacated the property in 2023. It is understood their are no immediate plans for Harry and Meghan's UK base, a gift from Queen Elizabeth II close to Windsor Castle, that they were asked to leave just weeks after the duke criticised his family in his controversial memoir Spare.
The £86.3 million Sovereign Grant comprises £51.8 million for the core elements like travel and payroll costs and £34.5 million to fund the Buckingham Palace Reservicing Programme. Workers are eight years into the decade-long reservicing initiative costing £369 million to improve fire and safety and replace heating and electrics, which is said to be on track and has updated the palace's east wing where the royal family watch major events from the balcony.
State banquets will move from the palace's ballroom to Windsor Castle for the next two years as work progresses and the lavish state rooms will come off and then online as contractors complete the final two years, expected to cost £100 million of the total.
Among the green initiatives highlighted by the Sovereign Grant accounts is the conversion of the first of two official Bentley's to run on bio-fuel with the second transitioning this year, increased use of sustainable aviation fuel for royal flights, including for helicopter travel, and 84% of royal household waste is now recycled.
Mr Chalmers added: 'The Grant has been supplemented by £21.5 million in additional income, up £1.7 million on last year, reflecting, among other factors, a record number of visitors to the Buckingham Palace Summer Opening as part of our continued drive to widen access to, and enjoyment of, the Occupied Royal Residences.'
The grant is 12% of Crown Estate profits which for the second year running have reached £1.1 billion due to record offshore wind farm profits, meaning in the 2026-27 financial year the grant will be £132 million – extra funding that will be used to complete the reservicing work.
Graham Smith, chief executive officer of Republic, called on the Government to take responsibility for reporting the costs of the monarchy. He said: 'The Irish president costs around £5 million a year. The cost of the monarchy could be slashed to well below £10 million.
'It's time the Duchies were taken off royal hands, and it's time these figures were released by Government to parliament, where they can be properly scrutinised.'
How much does the royal family cost? A breakdown of the key figures
– £132 million – The amount of Sovereign Grant the monarchy will receive in two years' time in 2026/27 because of the £1.1 billion Crown Estate wind farm deal profits.
– £91.4 million – Extra income the monarchy is receiving over the next two years (2025-26 and 2026-27).
– £86.3 million – The total taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant in 2024-25, the same as the previous year.
– £85.2 million – Official net expenditure by the monarchy, a fall of £3.9 million or 4% from £89.1 million in 2023/2024.
– £41.2 million – Cost of property maintenance, compared with £47 million the previous year.
– £4.7 million – Cost of official royal travel, a rise of £500,000 from £4.2 million the previous year.
– £475,000 – Cost of 141 helicopter journeys made by members of the royal family, costing less than £17,000 each.
– £400,500 – The most expensive journey – the King and Queen's charter flight to Samoa and thena scheduled flight back to London.
– £80,100 – Cost of the King and Queen's charter flight to and from Belfast and helicopters around Northern Ireland in March.
– £3.2 million – Cost of housekeeping and hospitality for the Royal Household, up £600,000 from £2.6 million.
– 539 – Full-time equivalent staff paid for from the Sovereign Grant, including fixed term contracts, compared with 523 the previous year.
– £29.9 million – The wage bill for staff, up £2 million from £27.9 million.
– 123,000 – Total number of correspondence received by the Royal Household, including 41,000 with well-wishes for the King and the Princess of Wales.
– £605,000 – The cost of landscaping the East Terrace Garden at Windsor Castle with a new flowing pathway for the public, more biodiverse flower beds and two orchards.
– 1,900 – Official engagements by members of the royal family in the UK and overseas, compared with 2,300 last year.
– 93,000 guests attended 828 events at official Royal Palaces
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– 12.1% – Proportion of staff from ethnic minority backgrounds working for Buckingham Palace, compared with 11.4% in 2023-2024. The target is 14% by December 2025.
– £21.5 million – Income earned to supplement the Sovereign Grant – an increase of £1.7 million or nearly 9% from £19.8 million last year, driven by record visitors to Buckingham Palace during the Summer Opening to see the newly opened East Wing.
– £22.9 million – The Prince of Wales's annual private income from the Duchy of Cornwall estate, down £700,000 from £23.6 million the previous year.
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Telegraph
2 hours ago
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The real reason why the King has ditched the royal train
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It's a good start on a path he suspects the royals will continue down, as the sheer number of residences in the royal property portfolio begins to look unwieldy at best, unnecessary at worst. 'It's not a great look in the 21st century, but what the heck do you do about them?' One observer notes there was a more open tone in the annual report this year. 'They sound very conscious of needing to make a case for the money now,' they say. Meanwhile, to Little's mind, it was 'very much a case of accentuating the positive'. Indeed, at times, the report – with its emphasis on the unique importance and usefulness of the Royal family's work at home and abroad – reads more like a performance review than a fiscal review. 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Daily Mirror
4 hours ago
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Inside the playboy princes' Royal love train where Charles had secret tryst
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Her husband Prince Albert, was not quite so impressed with this new-fangled mode of transport, cautioning the Great Western Railway: 'Not quite so fast, next time, Mr Conductor!' But the royal family became a unique part of the railway story, reflecting the nation's highs and lows through decades of war, social unrest and crises like the Covid epidemic. It could be said that the royal train is a timetable of English history. In 1883, when the country was shaken by Irish republican terrorist dynamite outrages, a threat was made to assassinate the Queen en route from Windsor to Ballater. It might have been a hoax, but the government took no chances and 'watchers' scrutinised every inch of the 600-mile journey. Unfazed, Victoria took every opportunity to travel and be seen by her subjects, and was given the first custom-built royal train by the GWR in 1897, fitted with electric lighting and a toilet, though she demanded station stops to use the facilities. Her last journey was also made by rail, when her coffin was transported to Windsor from Paddington for burial in 1901. READ MORE: Top secret WW2 message finally revealed as codebreaker, 101, says 'we were in danger' Her successor Edward VII – the playboy prince 'Bertie' - ordered a brand-new royal saloon within a year, complete with smoking-room and a day compartment in the Colonial style. In grand Edwardian manner, he explored his kingdom at leisure, visiting the landed gentry and provincial racecourses. He was followed on the throne by the altogether more serious naval officer George V, whose reign from 1910 to 1936 took the nation through World War One, the high tide of British imperialism, the rise of socialism and fascism – and the heyday of the railway. The Midland Railway built him a new royal saloon at its Derby works. But with the onset of World War Two, a secret new design took shape. In 1941, the LMS built his successor, George VI, three armour-plated saloons with document safes, in which the reluctant but deeply-admired monarch toured bomb-damaged towns and cities across the country. Post-war austerity Britain, with the railway nationalised by Labour in 1948, was no time for regal railway extravagance, and the new Queen had to wait a quarter of a century before she was presented with her first – and the nation's last – royal train in 1977. This unique set of nine claret-liveried carriages, boasting every luxury from baths to bedrooms and a dining car seating 12, is the last word in British craftsmanship. Built at Wolverton works for her Silver Jubilee, it has lasted well, with at least one refit, for almost fifty years. In future, His Majesty will usually travel around his kingdom by helicopter or car, though few would be surprised if he joins a regular service train. 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There is a powerful argument for preserving the entire train on site, as the Royal Yacht Britannia was retained for the nation in Leith harbour. Save Our Royal Train! The current set includes 'her and her lounges' - initially for the Queen and Prince Philip and now for the King and Queen Camilla, a dining car with place settings for 12, a kitchen car, bedrooms, and bathrooms with staff carriages also equipped with sleeping quarters. One 75ft carriage is for the monarch's sole use, with a 3ft wide bed topped by a tartan coverlet. The room has a bedside cabinet with a wireless permanently tuned to BBC Radio 4. Several framed landscapes by Scottish artist Roy Penny hang on the walls. The loss of the royal train will disappoint not only train-lovers but train drivers, for whom driving the Royals is a special honour. There has never been any shortage of volunteers – including, on one memorable occasion, Mick Whelan, general secretary of the train drivers' union, Aslef, called urgently to the colours, when the royal driver went sick. It has to be said that the day did not go quite as intended. Arriving at its Wolverton base from Euston, the royal train was inadvertently delayed. 'Yes, well,' Mick admitted to his union's journal. 'Some of the carriages went one way, and some another.' READ MORE: There have been other incidents, some potentially more serious. In October 2015, a member of the Royalty Protection Branch accidentally discharged his automatic pistol during an ovenight stop in South Wales. Both the Queen and Prince Philip were on board, but heard nothing and were undisturbed. Had Queen Victoria still been with us, her reaction would surely have been: 'We are not amused!' This truly has been the age of the Royal Train. Six incredible facts about the Royal Train • The Dowager Queen Adelaide, widow of King William IV, was the first royal to travel by train, from Nottingham to Leeds in July 1840 • King George VI had an armour-plated train for visits to towns and cities, targeted by the Luftwaffe in WW2 • Two special locomotives in claret livery, 67005, Queen's Messenger and 67006, Royal Sovereign, share train-haul duties • They are owned by DB Cargo – the German state railway - and operate normal goods services when not on royal duty • Royal train drivers are chosen for their experience, route knowledge, unflappability and skill – including being able to pull up the train within six inches of a designated stop • Royal author Penny Junor says the train is 'very dear to them. It's somewhere completely private, with everything they need on board.' • Paul Routledge's Mirror Book, For The Love of Trains, celebrating 200 years of travel after the first passenger train on 25 September 1825 on the Stockton and Darlington railway, is out later this year.
Daily Mirror
7 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Have your say on whether the royal family is costing the taxpayer too much
After the annual royals' accounts revealed expenditure of £2.7million last year on travel by private jet, helicopters and rail, we want to know whether you think the family cost the taxpayer too much The annual royal accounts have revealed that the family have spent a total of £2.7million last year on travel by private jet, helicopters and rail. One trip by the King and Queen to Australia and Samoa last October cost a staggering £400,000. Following the accounts being published, it was announced that King Charles would be axing the late Queen's beloved Royal Train after decades of service in an attempt to save cash. New figures found that the nine-carriage locomotive was only in action twice in the last year but cost £78,000. As the Royal Train is scrapped, accounts show Charles and the many of the royal family will rely on two new helicopters to get around. Palace aides stressed trains and other transport will be used, however, Charles arrived in Scotland this Wednesday by helicopter. If you can't see the poll, click here. James Chalmers, Keeper of the Privy Purse, said axing the Royal Train was an example of the royal family applying "fiscal discipline" in its drive to deliver "value for money". Mr Chalmers said: "The royal train, of course, has been part of national life for many decades, loved and cared for by all those involved. But in moving forward we must not be bound by the past. "Just as so many parts of the royal household's work have been modernised and adapted to reflect the world of today, so too, the time has come to bid the fondest of farewells, as we seek to be disciplined and forward in our allocation of funding. With His Majesty's support it has therefore been decided that the process to decommission the royal train will commence next year." The Sovereign Grant, which pays for the royal family's official duties and the upkeep of royal palaces, is met from public funds in exchange for the King's surrender of the revenue from the Crown Estate. The royals then in return get 12 per cent of this revenue back to run their affairs including travel, engagements at home and abroad and welcoming tens of thousands of people to the royal palaces. For the accounts last year, the royals cost the taxpayer £86.3 million for a fourth consecutive year. But record offshore wind farm profits have seen the Crown Estate net profits for the last financial year and hit £1.1 billion - meaning a record breaking Sovereign Grant of £132million will be handed out next year and the year after. Aides say the extra cash will go towards paying for the £369million refit of Buckingham Palace and the upkeep of other royal residences. Writing for the Mirror, Norman Baker slammed the royals, saying: "Buckingham Palace pretends the royals are prudent with our money – it's utter hogwash. Another year, another multimillion-pound splurge on one of the richest families in the country. Get Royal Family updates straight to your WhatsApp! As the royals get back to their normal duties after a difficult year, the Mirror has launched its very own Royal WhatsApp community where you'll get all the latest news on the UK's most famous family. We'll send you the latest breaking updates and exclusives all directly to your phone. Users must download or already have WhatsApp on their phones to join in. All you have to do to join is click on this link, select 'Join Chat' and you're in! We may also send you stories from other titles across the Reach group. We will also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose Exit group. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. "Buckingham Palace pretends the royals are being prudent with public money. What utter hogwash. They even have the cheek to suggest that Charles is being generous because he only takes 12% of the income of the Crown Estate. "Reality check: the Crown Estate has in effect been a public body since 1760, and until 2011, 100% of its profits went to the Treasury to pay for schools, hospitals, defence and, yes, disability benefits. This 12% is a new royal tax on the public purse."
