King Charles has saved taxpayers a whopping $25 million following his promise of slimming down the monarchy.
The monarch, 75, introduced a series of cost-cutting measures in a desperate effort to slash the royal family’s spending, the annual Sovereign Grant reveals.
Last year, the Firm’s spending hit an all-time high at an eye-watering $138 million.
But after tightening the purse strings — and making some major staffing changes at various royal residences — the royal family’s overall spending fell by 17% to $115 million.
And despite the difficult start to the year the family has had with Charles and Kate Middleton’s respective cancer diagnoses, the royals have managed to complete 2,300 engagements across the UK and overseas.
The Sovereign Grant accounts — published Wednesday — shows that the royals paid $1 million for Charles’ coronation celebrations last year.
The grant pays for the salaries of staff, upkeep of palaces and official royal duties.
The royals also experienced the result of the energy crisis that affected the entire country in 2023, as Buckingham Palace’s electricity bill soared by a whopping $1.3 million.
Charles, whose personal wealth is $770 million per the 2024 Sunday Times Rich List, has made his desire for a slimmed-down monarchy known ever since assuming the throne in Sept. 2022.
Since then, he’s also made his mission of modernizing the monarchy known to the public.
Elsewhere, the grant also revealed Frogmore Cottage — the property formerly belonging to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle — continues to sit empty more than a year after the pair were forced to hand over the keys.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex vacated the plush five-bedroom property in June 2023, and the home has seen no new tenants since.
The property sits vacant because King Charles’ scandal-scarred brother Prince Andrew refuses to move into the residence, which is considerably smaller than his current abode.
The Sussexes’ eviction was the King’s first step of the royal family’s financial fat-trimming.
Despite the king’s bid for a smaller monarchy, his sister Princess Anne previously said she doesn’t think it’s a good idea.
“I think ‘slimmed-down’ was said in a day when there were a few more people around to make that seem like a justifiable comment,” she said in May 2023. “It doesn’t sound like a good idea from where I’m standing… I’m not quite sure what else we can do.”
The Princess Royal suggested that the Firm was already streamlined enough after Harry and Meghan stepped back as senior working members of the family in 2020.