Proactive Investors - King Charles and the wider royal family have a "true cost" to the UK of £0.5 billion per year, with the annual taxpayer-funded grant that funds the monarchy expected to rise over 53% in the next year.
The yearly sovereign grant paid by the state to the royal family was £86.3 million for the past fiscal year, and anti-monarchist campaign group Republic calculates this will rise to £132 million in the 2025-26 tax year.
Charles and the royal household should be included in any money-saving plans in next month's autumn budget from the government, the group said.
The sovereign grant will be 12% of the Crown Estate profit for the two previous years (with the proviso that it cannot decrease year on year), meaning the total sovereign grant for the current 2024-25 tax year is going to remain unchanged at £86.3 million, according to the royal household's latest annual report and accounts.
Based on the £1.1 billion profit made by the crown estate in its 2023-4 tax year, up £658.1 million from the prior year, Republic calculates that the taxpayer-funded grant will increase by another £45 million in 2025-26.
A report from Republic estimates a £510 million "true cost" by including "hundreds of millions of pounds not accounted for by the sovereign grant", including lost income from the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, an estimated £150 million security bill and costs to local councils and lost revenue from state buildings used exclusively by the royals.
Republic spokesman Graham Smith said: "The half a billion pound cost of the royals represents a scandalous abuse of public money."
With Kier Starmer and Rachel Reeves warning of tough and painful decisions, he said, "if that's true, the cuts must start at the top."
"How can we talk about cutting the winter fuel allowance while wasting half a billion pounds on the royals? "
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