Prince Charles' Taxpayer Funding Rises 11%, Tops £2m For Year

Prince Of Wales' Public Funding Hits £2m

Taxpayer funding for the Prince of Wales increased by 11% in the last financial year, rising more than £2 million, according to official accounts released on Friday.

Prince Charles's income from grants-in-aid and Government departments went from £1,962,000 to £2,194,000, an increase of £232,000 from the previous year.

As well as the rise in taxpayer funding, Prince Charles also saw his private funding from the Duchy of Cornwall - the landed estate given to the heir to the throne to provide him or her with an income - go up by 3% to £18.3m.

The Prince's tax bill rose marginally from £4,398,000 to £4,496,000, an increase of £98,000.

Much of the extra funding came as Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, travelled almost 48,000 miles to and from official engagements at home and abroad on various tours to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee.

Prince Charles has been on multiple tours this year, including to Canada (above) and Denmark

Spending on official travel by air and rail came to £1,318,000 - up £238,000, or 22%, from the previous financial year.

Charles, through his private Duchy income, funds the much of the official work of his sons, William and Harry, and wife Camilla

One statistic not included in the accounts was the cost of Charles' daughter-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge.

The accounts cover the Duchess of Cambridge's first full year as a member of the Royal Family but the increased cost was described as "fairly marginal" by a royal source.

It is thought very little extra outlay has been needed for Kate since her wedding at Westminster Abbey in April last year.

Charles, as the groom's father, contributed towards the costs of the royal wedding, along with the Queen and Kate's parents, Michael and Carole Middleton.

It is believed the money provided by the families ran into the low hundreds of thousands of pounds.

This figure has also not been released but is included in the accounts under the unofficial expenditure costs which totalled £2,609,000, up from £2,539,000 the previous year.

The full-time equivalent of 134.9 members of staff were employed to support Charles, Camilla, William, Kate and Harry at the end of March, up from 132.8 in 2010/11.

Prince Charles' funds also accommodate for his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, his son Prince Harry and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

The Cambridges and Harry have the equivalent of nine full-time staff, up from 7.8 the previous financial year.

Kate does not have a dresser and the royal brothers do not have butlers or valets but use those who work for Charles when needed. Most of the trio's staff are communication and office workers.

Clarence House said there were a number of reasons for the rise: "The increase was due to several factors, including, more overseas visits by the Prince and the Duchess, more overseas visits by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and by Prince Harry, longer distances travelled during those visits, and the inclusion in the latest financial year of part of the costs of a spring tour in 2011 to Portugal, Spain and Morocco."

William and Kate embarked on their first tour as a married couple last summer, visiting Canada, while Harry carried out a Diamond Jubilee tour to the Caribbean in March.

The accounts listed the total amount of carbon dioxide emitted during the past financial year, a figure which covered everything from office and domestic energy use to Charles' organic Home Farm at Highgrove, his Gloucestershire estate.

The total was 4,782 tonnes, up from 4,127, and within this figure CO2 emissions for official overseas travel were up from 438 tonnes to 1,206 tonnes, almost a threefold increase.

These emissions are offset through the Government Carbon Offset Fund.

Anti-monarchist group Republic slammed Charles' expenses, saying he is "cynically exploiting charity as a way of deflecting criticism and scrutiny of his spiralling costs."

Republic chief executive Graham Smith said:

"Year on year Prince Charles continues to spend more public money on travel, much of which is for personal trips."

"At a time when the country is facing sweeping cuts to public spending Charles Windsor wilfully helps himself to whatever travel funds he wants or feel he needs."

"This 'something-for-nothing' culture in the royal household must end."

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