The Royal Family of Britain has always piqued the interest of global public as a whole, whether it’s due to their lavish lifestyle, scandals, or the various etiquettes they follow.

One of the striking features of the British Royal family is their lavish choice of lifestyle — be it the palace they live in, their dresses, their commute and the sheer strength of their security.

Who funds the Royal Family of Britain?

There is no question that the Royal Family’s purse is sustained by the British taxpayers — a system that has been in place since 1760 when George III was in the brink of bankruptcy as the monarchy surrendered the Crown Estate to the Parliament.

Till 2011, the Royal Family was funded by something called the ‘civil list’, which in 1760 itself had set the monarchy’s income at 800,000 pounds a year.

After that, the civil list was replaced by the sovereign grant, which gave the monarchy a financial stake in the fortunes of the Crown Estate for the first time since 1760.

The civil list provided 7.9 million pounds in support in 2011 alongside travel costs. In 2025, that amount will jump to a whopping 132.1 million pounds for the royals, according to estimates by The Times.

This comes despite there have been significant reductions in the number of working Royals over the years.

King Charles himself said before ascending to the throne that he wanted a slimmed-down monarchy. This has worked out not by choice, but external circumstances. The Queen and Prince Philip have died, Harry and Meghan have excused themselves and Andrew was recently cast out.

However, this does not mean that the burden on taxpayers has reduced by any amount whatsoever. In fact, despite having fewer working Royals, the bill paid by taxpayers have only ballooned. And so has the wealth of the family.

While the Buckingham Palace has regularly touted this amount as marginal, comparing it to the price of a cup of instant coffee for each taxpayer, facts cited by The Times showed otherwise. Britain’s monarchy is vastly more expensive than any other European monarchy.

How does Britain’s Royal wealth compare to other monarchies?

According to official figures from European countries cited by the newspaper, here is a list of the relative annual costs of the continent’s monarchies —

• Britain £132.1 million (2025)

• Netherlands £46 million (2024)

• Norway £24 million (2022)

• Belgium £12.5 million (2021)

• Sweden £11.5 million (2021)

• Denmark £10.8 million (2022)

• Spain £7.4 million (2023)