Since Andrew, the brother of the British king, exposed a series of scandals, the British public has called for the British royal family to increase financial transparency. They are worried about the lack of oversight over the royal funds. According to a report by the BBC on June 26, in order to improve transparency, King Charles III of the UK has recently made his personal tax records public, becoming the first monarch in modern British history to make tax information public.
Buckingham Palace issued a statement on the 25th, stating that since Charles ascended to the throne as the King of the United Kingdom in September 2022, he has paid a total of over 30 million pounds in taxes. Specifically, Charles paid 11.7 million pounds in taxes for the 2023-24 tax year, and 12.9 million pounds for the 2024-25 tax year. This puts Charles among the top 100 taxpayers in the United Kingdom.
The British Crown Prince and Prince of Wales also disclosed his personal tax information. He paid £8.34 million in taxes for the 2023-24 year, and £7.76 million for the 2024-25 year.
Charles and William’s taxes for the 2025-26 season are still under audit, and they are expected to be made public next year. Buckingham Palace stated that making this information public helps to increase transparency and “promote an understanding of our accountability mechanisms among the outside world.”
However, analysts point out that although Buckingham Palace claims that the British king pays taxes at the ‘highest rate’, these figures do not detail how the taxes are calculated, leaving a lack of transparency.
British consulting firm Tax Policy Association founder Dan Nadel said: “We don’t know how much of it is capital gains tax, nor do we know how much is income tax. It’s very important that we don’t know what amounts have been deducted before calculating the final tax liability.”
The British newspaper The Guardian also reported that Buckingham Palace has not disclosed Charles’ total annual income, nor has it revealed the full value of the British royal family’s private assets. Therefore, it is impossible for the public to verify Charles’ actual tax rate.
The Guardian reports that the personal wealth of the British king amounts to at least 1.8 billion pounds, including the Duke of Lancaster's estate worth 690 million pounds, as well as extensive assets in cars, jewelry, artworks, and luxury homes. As for the assets held by the British king in the field of financial investments, and how much income these investments could generate, that remains unknown.
British King Charles III IC Photo
According to a tax list previously disclosed by the British newspaper The Sunday Times, Suneil Setiya, the boss of a British hedge fund with a similar net worth of about 1.8 billion pounds, pays approximately 114 million pounds in taxes each year. This amount is 10 times the amount Charles paid in taxes for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
British musician Ed Sheeran has a net worth of £410 million, which is far lower than that of the British king. However, he has paid £20 million in taxes to the UK Revenue and Customs Service. British author J.K. Rowling has a net worth of approximately £975 million, and she has paid £47 million in taxes on various incomes and gains.
The Guardian states that due to the highly opaque financial information of the British royal family, it is impossible to determine Charles’ exact tax payments. However, compared to other wealthy celebrities in the UK, his taxes are much lower, which raises some questions.
The Duke's Land of Lancaster is a major source of income for the British King. In the 2025-26 financial year, it generated £25.2 million for Charles. However, this territory does not have to pay various taxes like ordinary companies or trusts. Capital gains from the sale of properties, as well as rent collected from tenants, can be accumulated and re-invested without paying taxes.
The Guardian criticizes that the Duke of Lancaster acts as the British king's "private treasury," and its operations are similar to a miniature "tax haunt." The king's other assets are kept secret. Although the British royal family argues that the king voluntarily pays capital gains tax and that his accounts are audited annually, no ordinary British citizen has the same discretion in tax matters as the king.
After the brother of the British king, Andrew, was exposed to a series of scandals, more and more British citizens are calling for the British royal family to increase financial transparency. British historian Anna Whitelock says that Charles’ public disclosure of tax records is a move in line with modern times. “This is an attempt by the British royal family to take proactive action, to make positive statements before being forced into a corner, rather than reacting passively.”
However, Norman Baker, a former member of the British Liberal Democratic Party who has long criticized the British royal family, believes that the British royal family needs to provide explanations regarding income and expenses. “If Charles and William are both talking about streamlining the royal household, then what we hope to see is a reduction in expenses, not just a decrease in the number of people who appear on the balconies of Buckingham Palace.”
