Charles Windsor’s 45 per cent pay rise
King Charles would like to be seen as an abstemious monarch and so requested in January that his share of windfall profits to the Crown Estate from offshore wind leases be redirected “for the wider public good”. That will happen, but he’s still in line for a 45 per cent pay rise between now and 2026-27. In response to his request the Treasury cut his share of Crown Estate profits last month from 25 to 12 per cent. The result will be to keep his take-home pay flat at £86.3 million next year, but after that it will bounce up to £124.8 million in 2025-26 and £126 million in 2026-27, according to the Treasury’s latest projections. These are based on booming Crown Estate revenues following excited bidding for wind leases last year by BP and TotalEnergies, among others, as they seek to grow their renewable energy portfolios. Bafflingly, the Crown Estate and its Scottish cousin own the sea bed around Britain. They get lease option payments as well as rent from would-be users, and these option payments alone are forecast to total £1.04 billion and £1.05 billion respectively in 2023-24 and 2024-25. Nice “work” if you can get it. The proportion of UK citizens who’d prefer a republic has risen in recent years from about 15 to about 25 per cent.
Photograph Getty Images