- The Treasury announced that the Sovereign Grant will be slashed from 25% down to just 12%.
- The Sovereign Grant is the percentage of the profits from the Crown Estate that go directly to the Royal Family.
- The decision comes amid a flurry of decisions regarding the role of the Royal Family under King Charles III in U.K. life.
Poor King Charles III. Well, maybe in the literal sense.
More like "still has more money than any of us will ever see, but now will have slightly less of it, King Charles III."
But we do mean poor King Charles III in the sense of the circumstances. Imagine you've waited your whole life for all the thrills, privileges, and spoils of being king, and the minute you get the crown, the entire country seems to have collectively gone, "Wait, why do we do any of this?" It's like being the last band on a six-act bill and wondering, "Are these people bailing because they're tired, or do we just suck that bad?"
Yes, the U.K.'s relationship with the crown has been getting a reevaluation, both existentially in the minds of its citizens and the pages of its papers, and financially, in the form of a review "carried out by the Government and the Keeper of the Privy Purse Sir Michael Stevens," as noted by Express.
While Charles has been busy trying to cut down on expenses from his siblings and children, the Treasury announced today that the Sovereign Grant "will be slashed to 12 percent of the Crown Estate's net profits, down from 25 percent."
Express notes that the Sovereign Grant "uses a percentage of the profits from the Crown Estate as a benchmark to decide how much the Royal Family should receive in taxpayer money." In other words, Charles, enjoy those gifts from foreign dignitaries because your own taxpayers will be involuntarily gifting you far less dough come next year.
One of the figures involved in reviewing the rate, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, said of the decision:
"The new Sovereign Grant rate reflects the unexpected significant increase in The Crown Estate’s net profits from offshore wind developments, while providing enough funding for official business as well as essential property maintenance, including completing the ten year reservicing of Buckingham Palace."
On the plus side, Chuck, maybe you've got some old family heirlooms kicking around that you can sell for some spare change if things get tight.
Michael Natale is the news editor for Best Products, covering a wide range of topics like gifting, lifestyle, pop culture, and more. He has covered pop culture and commerce professionally for over a decade. His past journalistic writing can be found on sites such as Yahoo! and Comic Book Resources, his podcast appearances can be found wherever you get your podcasts, and his fiction can’t be found anywhere, because it’s not particularly good.
