King Charles III took a 500-mile train ride that cost $67,000 dollars, while Prince William, Princess Kate and Princess Anne collectively spent $89,000 flying to three different rugby matches.
Royals do hundreds of jobs a year, including many on normal scheduled flights and trains, but the trips that rely on private jets or helicopters can sometime cost eye-watering sums.
The monarchy spent more than £1 million [around $1.4 million] on 170 helicopter rides between April 2023 and the end of March 2024. Costs are covered using the public money that the British Government gives the monarchy each year in the form of the Sovereign Grant.
A two-day visit to the North of England in the Royal Train cost £52,000 [around $67,000] as the king marked the centenary of the Flying Scotsman, an express train service between London and Edinburgh.
The 500-mile journey from Windsor, Berkshire, to Scarborough, North Yorkshire, and back to London cost more than a private jet chartered to fly Prince William from England to Kuwait following the death of Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah on December 18.
That 2,885-mile trip cost £41,500 [around $53,500], according to financial record published in the Sovereign Grant Report. This is an annual financial document released by Buckingham Palace in London. The 5,411-mile trip that Princess Anne took by private plane to Colombo, Sri Lanka, was also cheaper at £48,000 [around $62,000].
The royals also spent substantial amounts flying by private jets to watch sport, including William and Kate, who spent £31,000 flying to Marseille, France, by private jet for a Rugby World Cup quarterfinal.
And Princess Anne spent £18,500 flying to Scottish capital Edinburgh for a Women's 6 Nations Rugby match between Scotland and Italy on April 22, and almost £20,000 flying to Edinburgh to watch Scotland play France in the Men's 6 Nations on February 10.
That all brought the cost of travel for three rugby matches £69,000 [around $89,000].
The cost of Charles' coronation was revealed to be £800,000 [$1 million], though the royals spent more on helicopters after 170 trips by chopper cost £1.09 million [or $1.4 million]. That brought total spending on travel in the year 2023-24 up to £2.6 million [around $3.4 million].
The British Royal Family is preparing to see its annual public funding soar in the coming years due to increased profits from offshore wind farms. This will take its annual funding from around £86 million to £132 million in the tax year 2025-26.
The monarchy's government grant is calculated based on a preset percentage of the profits from The Crown Estate, a publicly owned property empire that counts within its portfolio a substantial amount of the seabed off the U.K. coast.
That means it has been able to generate a major income from building offshore wind farms, creating in turn a financial boost for the king from renewables after a lifetime advocating for the environment.
William and Kate have also seen their coffers overflowing since they took control of the Duchy of Cornwall, Charles' former estate, after Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022.
The couple drew a £23 million [around $30 million] income from the estate to fund their working and private lives.
Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
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