Prince Charles has seen his private income increase by £700,000 — up four per cent in a year.
Official figures released today show he earned £19 million from his Duchy of Cornwall estate last year, up from £18.3 million.
Clarence House said the heir to the throne “chooses to spend” £9.8 million — more than half of his after-tax income — on supporting his official and charitable work. His tax bill, which is paid at the highest rate of income tax after the deduction of business expenditure, remains at £4.4 million.
Spending on his official travel paid for through the Sovereign Grant fell from £1.3 million to £644,000.
The decrease in spend was mainly due to travel costs to countries such as Australia and New Zealand being covered by the hosts.
The Duchy — the landed estate given to the heir to the throne to provide him an income — also funds his wife Camilla, Prince William, Kate, and Prince Harry.
The Annual Review, which covers the 12 months to April, shows that Charles and Camilla undertook 769 joint and solo official engagements last year.
They hosted almost 7,500 people at events at royal residences and travelled more than 58,000 miles.
Charles raised “directly or indirectly” a total of £139 million to support the work of his 17 core charities, a rise of £8 million in the past year.
The accounts reveal that the Prince employed a retinue of 125 official staff, up by one on last year, 15 estate workers and the full time equivalent of eight personal staff. There are 10 staff for William, Kate and Harry.
The Duchy owns 53,408 hectares of land across 23 counties of England and Wales. In London it includes the Oval cricket ground and about 50 flats and houses in Kennington.
The Review highlighted Charles and Camilla’s key role in “Supporting Her Majesty The Queen and promoting the very best of British enterprise and culture” and said they played a “significant role” in supporting the Queen in the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
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The latest Review gives detailed information about the Household’s impact on the environment, with a minor increase (two per cent) in overall carbon emissions — but a continuing rise in the amount of office and domestic energy which comes from renewable sources including wood chip boilers, heat pumps, solar panels and electricity from renewable sources.
The vast majority of official costs of The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry are paid for by His Royal Highness from income from the Duchy of Cornwall, supported by The Queen’s Sovereign Grant.
It said: “In addition to supporting the highly successful London Olympics the Prince and The Duchess travelled the length and breadth of the country highlighting the ‘best of British’ including, among others, successful manufacturing businesses, community volunteering and sustainable fish and chips.”
