King Charles has confirmed he will never live at Buckingham Palace, even after taxpayers funded its £369 million refurbishment, ending a centuries-old royal tradition
King Charles won’t live at Buckingham Palace despite taxpayers paying for £370m refurb
Buckingham Palace will continue to be Monarchy HQ and used for official occasions, but it will not be the King’s home.
King Charles will not live at Buckingham Palace, officials have confirmed (Image: Getty)
King Charles will not live at Buckingham Palace after the £369m refurbishment works are completed next spring, despite previous insistence from officials that it would become his London home. The Prince and Princess of Wales also have no intention of ever moving into the 775-room home, as Forest Lodge on the Windsor Estate has been billed as their “forever home”.
Announced as part of the annual royal finance reports, which revealed that the King and Prince of Wales have paid over £50m in tax during the Carolean era, Buckingham Palace confirmed that Charles and Camilla will continue to reside at their London home, Clarence House, when the 10-year refurbishment of Monarchy HQ concludes in March 2027.
The Palace will remain the symbol of the Royal Family, home to state banquets, dinners, Garden Parties and investitures, as well as the central headquarters of the monarchy – but it will cease to be a residential home.
Veteran royal journalist Phil Dampier believes it’s a “big mistake” and risks a public outcry following the hundreds of millions spent on the Palace’s refurbishment. He also argues the building risks being seen as simply a museum and fears it will hamper the Palace’s tourist appeal.
But a Palace spokesperson downplayed the change, ending the centuries-old tradition of British monarchs residing at the iconic building, and said: “The Palace will continue in every traditional way to be the beating heart of the Monarchy, just not its resting head.”
In a historic first, Charles and William have disclosed their personal tax bills as part of a modernising drive for greater “transparency and accountability” in response to calls for greater openness regarding royal finances, amid scandals surrounding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and his rent-free living arrangements.
The King paid £12.9million in income tax and capital gains tax in the 2024-25 financial year, from his private income from his private Duchy of Lancaster estate and other private assets, including Balmoral and Sandringham and investments, Buckingham Palace revealed on Thursday night.
This puts him within the top 100 taxpayers for that year, joining Harry Styles, JK Rowling and the brothers behind gambling giant Betfred, who topped the list in the same financial year.
During the same period, the Prince of Wales paid £7.76million in income tax on the surplus from the Duchy of Cornwall, which provides independent funding for the Household of the Prince and Princess of Wales and their work, and capital gains tax on private investments.
Buckingham Palace will continue to be monarchy HQ (Image: Getty)
In 2023-24, the King handed over £11.7million to the Treasury and has paid more than £30million in total since ascending the throne in September 2022. William paid £8.34m in that tax year, and has paid more than £20million in tax while his father has been on the throne.
Between them, father and son have paid over £50million to HMRC since Charles ascended the throne in September 2022.
Both Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace will continue to publish their tax bills annually, which are both reviewed by independent tax accountants.
Sources close to the King said his tax decision was “another step forwards in the evolution and modernisation” of the monarchy and reflected the Palace’s acknowledgment that “there is a premium on transparency”.
Last year, a furore erupted when it was revealed that the former duke of york only paid a peppercorn rent at Royal Lodge, and this scrutiny intensified earlier in the month after an investigation revealed his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, have their royal accommodation paid for by the King.
How Charles and William’s tax bill compares (Image: Daily Express)
The finance report published on Thursday revealed that the Royal Household made £3.9million in rental income for the 2025-26 financial year, which includes the rental income from the York sisters. Their exact contribution has not been disclosed.
The spotlight will now return to living arrangements following the announcement that the King and Queen will never move into Buckingham Palace, preferring the more comfortable, homely and intimate walls of Clarence House.
Clarence House, next to St James’s Palace and just a stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace, has been the King’s London home since 2003, after he inherited it from the Queen Mother.
But many monarchists will be disappointed that Buckingham Palace will now be used only for official purposes, as William has expressed no interest in moving in when he ascends the throne, making it unlikely any future monarch will call it their home.
The Palace has served as the official home of British monarchs since 1837, though it hasn’t been used in over six years, as the late Queen Elizabeth II moved out of the London residence at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 and never moved back due to her ailing health.
Official records show that the last time the Sovereign stayed overnight was March 18, 2020.
