The Sovereign Grant Report has been released by the Palace—which, in layman’s terms, means: We now know what sort of expenses the royals racked up!
The headline from the Palace statement is that the Queen carried out 140 official engagements in 2018–2019, and that the royal family took part in 3,200 appearances. Overall, the royal family cost U.K. taxpayers £67m (about $85 million) over the past financial year, which is about £20m (roughly $25 million) more than the previous year. This amount is due, per the Independent, primarily to the task of “maintaining royal palaces across the country,” as well as “updating services” at Buckingham Palace, which is, as Town & Country notes, a “massive, 10-year project.”
As royal commentators predicted on Twitter, however, the central takeaway from the release from the press has been one data point in particular: the cost of the renovations on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s home at Frogmore Cottage, which total £2.4m (about $3.05 million).
As the Independent notes, when the Sussexes’ decision to move to the Cottage, located about half a mile south of Windsor Castle, was made, the property was comprised of five separate housing units. To make the locale into a livable home for the family, “major” reconstruction was necessary. The process took about six months, and has allowed for, reportedly, “a mother-and-baby yoga room, a luxury bathroom and kitchen, and new flooring.” (All the new “fittings and fixtures” were paid for privately by the couple.)
Sir Michael Stevens, who functions as the Keeper of the Privy Purse (quite a title!) and is tasked to manage all the Palace’s financials, said that the home, which has been a royal residence since 1792, “had not been the subject of work for some years and had already been earmarked for renovation in line with our responsibility to maintain the condition of the occupied royal palaces estate.” He continued, “The Sovereign Grant covered the work undertaken to turn the building into the official residence and home of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their new family. The building was returned to a single residence and outdated infrastructure was replaced to guarantee the long-term future of the property. Substantially all fixtures and fittings were paid for by Their Royal Highnesses."
Royal correspondent Omid Scobie notes that the renovation figure for Frogmore Cottage is in fact smaller than the amount spent in 2014, when Prince William and Kate Middleton renovated their apartment at Kensington Palace, which cost £4.5m, or roughly $5.72 million.
