How transparent are the royals being about money?

Image source, PA Media By Sean Coughlan Royal correspondent Published 15 minutes ago In the blizzard of numbers published about royal finances, there is one figure that's very revealing. It's £99.9m for the level of next year's Sovereign Grant, the public funding for the running costs of the monarchy, covering costs like travel, staff and building maintenance. Not £100m, but £99.9m, the type of figure we're used to seeing in retail settings - £9.99 rather than a tenner - keeping a figure below a threshold, in a sales tactic that's sometimes called "charm pricing" or "psychological pricing". What it reveals about the royal finances is the importance about how things look, the optics of the moment. It's recognising that the public is watching and wants to see value for money. In the background is the shadow of the scandals surrounding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. There was a clear message from MPs and the public that they expected more transparency and accountability about how public money was being spent by the royals. So there has been an undoubted step in that direction. The publishing of the King's personal tax payments is information never before shared, so it is authentically being more open with the public. If you can feel a "but" coming, it's that we do not have any background information upon which the figure - £12.9m for 2024-2025 - is based. It's on his personal income, which includes the Duchy of Lancaster, private investments and from properties such as Sandringham. But outside of that single total, we do not know how it is broken down. We do not know whether it is mostly from his Duchy income nor do we know how much is income tax or capital gains tax. King becomes first monarch to reveal tax bill as royal public funding to double to £100m Published 5 hours ago Furthermore we do not know what other spending and expenses might be set against his tax bill, which has been about £30m since coming to the throne in 2022. We already knew about the income from the Duchy of Lancaster - £25.2m for 2025-26 - but it does not cast much more light on other aspects of earnings or spending or whether money is paid to any other members of the Royal Family. Income that he might have inherited when he became King is also unknown, as royal wills are kept secret and there is no inheritance tax between a monarch and their successor. In presentational terms it's interesting too - because to pay so much tax, it means the King is now unambiguously seen as a very wealthy individual, but at least someone who is opening up to the public in a way not previously seen. Likewise the Prince of Wales, who declared an annual tax payment of £7.76m tax. That puts him among the country's highest taxpayers and also as a consequence among the highest earners. Image caption, The Royal Family are among the highest taxpayers and so among the highest earners The Sovereign Grant has always been theoretically open and accountable - but also to many has felt fairly incompre