Buckingham Palace building work drives royal funding increase

With pressure on public finances, there’s increasing scrutiny of the amount of taxpayers’ money spent on the British Royal Family.

Citing official figures, a BBC report said that public funding for the Royal Household has tripled in real terms since 2012.

It said the rise in funding was driven largely by repairs and building work at Buckingham Palace.

"The Sovereign Grant, which provides state funding for the monarchy, was introduced in 2012 at £31m per year. That has now risen to £132m, , said the report referring to data from the House of Commons Library shows

Quotient royal aides, the BBC reported that the rise was because of a Buckingham Palace building project and the grant will come down again.

Lord Turnbull, a crossbench peer and a former Cabinet Secretary was of the view that the budget isn't high compared with other presidential heads of state.

"The Sovereign Grant provides funding for the official duties of the monarchy. In the most recent figures, for 2023-24, the biggest items were property maintenance and staff payroll, with smaller amounts for travel and hospitality and housekeeping," according to the publication.

Buckingham Palace said that the current figures are higher because of a 10-year, £369m project to modernise facilities in the Palace, including cabling, plumbing, wiring and lifts. It's a project that the National Audit Office says has been well-run and delivers "good value for money".

The Palace said it's misleading to compare this year's figures with earlier levels of grants. They say the big increase is due to the element of the grant that pays for Buckingham Palace building works, rather than the "core" grant for other running costs.

Speaking to BBC, Pauline Maclaran, a royal commentator from Royal Holloway, University of London, said the monarchy "generates a great deal of money and goodwill."

This is often seen in terms of boosting tourism and promoting business links, but Prof Maclaran says increasingly it needs to recognise the impact of royal "soft power".

But the royals can't be immune to questions about finances, she says: "The public wants to know if they're of value."

Royal expert Richard Palmer said that this year's increase has "raised eyebrows".

He added, "Of course the head of state and those who support him need to be funded properly, but so do other parts of the state - the health service, schools, the military, for example."