UK royal family boosts finances through offshore wind investments, palace revenues

The British royal family has received a significant financial boost, with recent reports showing a substantial increase in both the Crown Estate’s profits and the number of visitors to royal palaces, nearing pre-pandemic levels.
According to the Crown Estate’s annual report, profits surged to £1.1 billion (approximately $1.4 billion), a dramatic rise from the £442.6 million recorded in the previous year.
This increase is primarily attributed to new agreements for leasing seabed sites to offshore wind producers. As a result, the sovereign grant, which is the annual funding provided by the government to support the royal family, will increase to £132 million for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, up from £86.3 million in recent years.
The sovereign grant, a fixed yearly payment derived from the Crown Estate’s profits, has provided financial stability for the royal family for centuries. Instituted in its current form in 2012, the grant is calculated as a percentage of the estate’s net profits. King Charles has advocated for the additional profits from the wind power deals to be allocated for the public good, prompting the government to reduce the sovereign grant percentage from 25% to 12% of net profits. Had the original percentage been maintained, the grant would have skyrocketed to £275 million, potentially risking public disapproval amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis in Britain.
Dan Labbad, the Crown Estate’s chief executive, noted in the report that the profit surge is viewed as “short term in nature” and projected that revenue and valuations would normalize in the coming years.
Simultaneously, a separate report on royal funding highlighted a resurgence in visitors to Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, reaching nearly pre-Covid levels. This influx of visitors doubled the income from palace tours to £19.8 million in the year leading up to April 2024.
However, the report also emphasized the continued expenses associated with the decade-long refurbishment of Buckingham Palace and upgrades to Windsor Castle.
The refurbishment, which has so far cost £10.59 million, includes a £465,000 project to replace water pumps and tanks at Windsor. Despite these costs, the National Audit Office praised the overall management of the £369 million renovation project, albeit noting some delays and cost overruns due to unforeseen challenges such as additional asbestos and structural damage.
The annual report also detailed the royal household’s activities and expenditures, noting a decrease in the number of official engagements compared to pre-pandemic levels. The royal family participated in 2,300 engagements over the past year, a decrease from the 3,200 engagements in the year before the pandemic.
The reduced number of engagements is partially due to the thinning ranks of royals available for public duties, following Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s decision to step back from their roles in 2020 and the deaths of Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II.
Health issues within the royal family have also impacted their public presence. King Charles’s cancer diagnosis and Princess Catherine’s health challenges resulted in temporary reductions in their public appearances.
Despite these setbacks, the king continued to perform his constitutional duties and resumed public engagements in April, while Princess Catherine made her public return last month at a ceremonial parade in London.
The royal household’s efforts to diversify its workforce were also highlighted in the report, with 11.4% of employees now from ethnic minority backgrounds, although still short of the 14% target for 2025. Additionally, the gender pay gap has decreased from 4.2% to 2.2%.
In summary, the financial outlook for the British royal family has brightened considerably due to the Crown Estate’s windfall and a resurgence in palace tourism, even as they navigate ongoing health challenges and the demands of extensive refurbishment projects.