Several royal home renovations have been paid by taxpayers and when projects come out of the Sovereign Grant, the fund values are made public.
Prince William and Kate Middleton made renovations worth £4.5m
Royal renovations don’t come cheap, and sadly many of us are footing the bill. Some of the housework done for the likes of the King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Princess Kate have come to eye-watering amounts.
When the projects come out of the Sovereign Grant the fund values are made public, meaning we know who spent how much on doing up their homes.
Some of the most expensive renovations have come from Prince William and Kate who have spent a whopping £4.5m on doing up their Kensington home.
As revealed in the 2014 Sovereign Grant report, the royal couple’s Kensington Palace property cost the taxpayer millions, with renovations taking place over two years.
While Kensington Palace is still their official residence, Kate and William have since moved out of London and reside primarily in Adelaide Cottage in Windsor or Anmer Hall, their holiday home in Norfolk.
Some of the major repairs to Kensington Palace, which the couple moved to in 2011, included removing asbestos and repairing the roof but the Prince and Princess of Wales did fork out their own money too.
William and Kate paid privately for a second family kitchen as the main kitchen is used for working, and accomodating official events.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have also cost the taxpayer a pretty penny with renovations at their family home, Frogmore Cottage, costing £2.4m, according to the royal accounts which they then paid back in full.
The home was done up and completed a month before their eldest, Prince Archie, was born.
Kate and William moved into Kensington Palace in 2011
Taxpayers have also bankrolled other royal homes, including Clarence House, home to King Charles and Camila who are still living there while renovations take place at Buckingham Palace.
Some £4m was was used from public funds set aside for palace maintenance to renovate the property, with Charles also spending £1.65million of his own money to cover additional refurbishments.
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, has also had refurbs worth £7.5m made to his home, Royal Lodge Windsor, which has been his official country residence since 2004.
But Buckingham Palace takes the cake with an eye-watering £369m renovation taking place over ten years.
For the 2023-24 year, renovations have cost more than £80m, with the Keeper of the Privy Purse, Sir Michael Stevens, saying: “The figure for the year remained unchanged at £86.3 million, with a significant proportion funding the Reservicing of Buckingham Palace, which is now in its seventh year.
“This figure will remain unchanged at £86.3 million for the year 2023-24.”