LONDON – King Charles III will reveal his personal tax bill in a bid to improve transparency, Buckingham Palace confirmed to AFP on June 21, as royal finances come under increasing public scrutiny in Britain.
British monarchs are legally exempt from paying certain taxes, though they have paid some duties on a voluntary basis for decades.
They also have no obligation to disclose their tax bills, but recent scandals surrounding the disgraced former prince Andrew have thrust the royal family’s finances into the spotlight.
Charles began releasing his personal tax information when he was heir to the throne, but will become the first monarch to disclose it.
“The decision to do so as Sovereign has come at the express wish of the King himself,” a palace spokesperson said in a statement released late Saturday to a limited number of British media outlets.
It added that the move was “part of the adaptations carried across” since Charles acceded to the throne in 2022.
“Our aim is to explain all elements of royal finances in a way that further enhances clarity and accessibility, while also placing it in its historical and constitutional context.
“To put it simply: we continue to modernise and evolve.”
Charles’s tax information will be shared on June 25 as part of the annual royal financial accounts, the BBC reported.
Anti-monarchy campaign group Republic called for independent authorities to audit and disclose royal tax and income, saying Charles’s voluntary disclosure decision “leaves many unanswered questions”.
“The royals can’t be allowed to self-declare their tax,” its head Graham Smith said in a statement on June 21.
“They’ll spin this as Charles being a huge tax payer, but the question is why is his income so high?”
The head of the royal family gets money from various sources, including the publicly-funded Sovereign Grant as well as private duchy income worth tens of millions of pounds more.
The grant – an annual government payment to cover the costs of official duties by working royals – has increased markedly in 2025-2026, to £132.1 million (S$225.8 million), compared with £86.3 million the prior financial year.
Meanwhile, Charles received £26.8 million in private income from the Duchy of Lancaster in 2024–25.
Profits from the historic duchy – a large, diversified portfolio of land, property, and investments managed like a modern business – funds personal expenses and some official duties.
It is the main source of private income for the head of the monarchy, with the heir – currently Charles’s eldest son William, Prince of Wales – benefiting from a similar arrangement with his Duchy of Cornwall.
Under British law, monarchs do not have to pay income tax, capital gains tax or inheritance tax.
However, since 1993 they have voluntarily paid the first two, following public pressure and scrutiny of royal finances, including questions over who would pay for repairs following a fire at Windsor Castle.
Like his father, William voluntarily pays income and capital gains taxes on his duchy’s profits.
The upcoming tax disclosures will illuminate Charles’s other personal income.
The king owns both Balmoral and Sandringham Estates, which were inherited from his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth II.
They were exempt from inheritance tax under a long-standing government agreement.
Other private sources of income could include money from investments or trading profits.
The royal family has sought to repair its image since damaging revelations around Andrew, Charles’s younger brother, and his ties to the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
It has also emerged that the disgraced ex-prince earned a private income from subletting cottages while paying a symbolic “peppercorn rent” for a mansion for more than two decades.
The British parliament’s watchdog Public Accounts Committee has launched an inquiry into residential property arrangements provided to royals in the wake of the revelations. AFP