The British government paid for Prince William's flights to New York City last September to attend two days of events, despite his having access to millions of pounds to fund the cost of his official, charitable, and private life, a new report says.
Figures published this week showed that William received £23.6 million ($30.4 million) from the surplus profits of the Duchy of Cornwall following the last financial year. The historic duchy estate, founded in 1337, is made up of land holdings and financial assets, the profit from which provides the eldest son of the monarch with a private income.
On Wednesday, the annual Sovereign Grant Report was published in Britain, outlining the official expenditure of the monarchy. In an appendix detailing all royal travel costs that exceeded £17,000 ($21,960) it showed that William's commercial flights to and from New York City in September 2023 were "FCDO funded," meaning that the publicly funded government Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office paid the bill.
The official report states that the trip was to "visit New York during The United Nations General Assembly." But at the time it was mainly billed as an opportunity for the prince to attend an event connected with his Earthshot Prize, an eco-charity.
William's visit to New York City, from September 18 to 19, was announced by Kensington Palace in a press release headline: "The Prince of Wales will visit New York to attend The Earthshot Prize Summit." This didn't appear to suggest the main reason for going was in connection with a government request.
The Earthshot event took place during Climate Week NYC, at the same time as the U.N. General Assembly's session. The Earthshot summit was launched in 2022 in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies to gather members of William's eco-initiative to discuss and scale up their projects, as well as to announce the finalists for the coming awards.
In its press release, Kensington Palace said that during his stay William would attend a range of events.
"The Prince will carry out additional meetings and events linked to The Earthshot Prize and to learn about how New York is tackling environmental issues," the palace said. "He will also travel to the United Nations to meet with the UN Secretary General and other world leaders."
William undertook five engagements in New York: a visit to an oyster environmental project; an audience with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres; an audience with Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso; the Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit; and a visit with the city's first responders.
The news that the government paid for the prince's flights raises questions about what royal travel is considered "essential," Graham Smith, CEO of Britain's leading anti-monarchy group, Republic, told Newsweek.
"The foreign office is paying for a charity to have their patron attend an event," he said.
"They shouldn't be paying for him to go anywhere where there's no particular need for him to go. This particular visit raises questions of conflicts of purpose in terms of what was he really there for. And did he really need to meet anybody at the U.N.?" Smith said.
While Republic strongly objects to William receiving funds from the Duchy of Cornwall, Smith added, if he does receive them he should meet his own costs.
"I think that if we are paying that, then of course he ought to be funding his own travel when it's not essential government business," he said. "And particularly when it's claimed that he uses this money to support his charity work and yet won't spend it to have a trip over to New York in order to attend a charity event."
Newsweek reached out by email to Kensington Palace and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for comment.
William regularly undertakes domestic and international visits during his work as a member of the royal family. However, this year he has undertaken a reduced schedule as his wife, Princess Kate, received a cancer diagnosis, which was announced publicly in March.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
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