London
CNN
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The British royal family’s train will be retired by 2027, as part of a cost-saving measure announced by Buckingham Palace on Monday after “a thorough review into its use and value for money.”
The monarchy has been using its own rail travel since Queen Victoria first boarded a specially built carriage from Slough, England, to London Paddington Station in 1842. The current royal train, which has nine carriages that include sleeping quarters and an office, was introduced in 1977 for Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee.
But the costs of royal rail travel rack up quickly, according to the Royal Household’s annual accounts report, which showed that a visit by the King to the English county of Staffordshire in February cost £44,822 ($61,800). Another trip to the Cheshire headquarters of luxury automaker Bentley last year cost more than £33,000 ($45,700). There are also hefty costs associated with storing the royal train at a secure facility in Wolverton, England.
The decision to decommission the train was partly due to “the significant level of investment which would be required to keep the Royal Train in operation beyond 2027,” the report said. Meanwhile, two helicopters provide “a reliable alternative,” it stated. The royals took more than 140 helicopter journeys over the year, with an average cost per trip of around £3,370 ($4,600).
The announcement of the train’s retirement was part of the annual financial statement released by the British Royal Household, which revealed that the annual lump sum it received from the government remained at £86.3 million ($118.50 million).
The sum, called the Sovereign Grant, pays for the upkeep of royal palaces and the royals’ official duties and is funded by British taxpayer money. In return, the monarch hands over all profits from the Crown Estate — which includes vast swathes of central London property, the Ascot Racecourse and the seabed around England, Wales and Northern Ireland — to the government, in an arrangement dating back to 1760.
The Sovereign Grant functions like an expense account for the monarch and their representatives, covering the costs of their public duties, including travel, staff, and upkeep of historic properties. Notably, it excludes funding for security, which also incurs a high cost given the royals’ numerous public engagements and events.
Royal family members undertook more than “1,900 public engagements in the UK and overseas, while more than 93,000 guests attended 828 events at Official Royal Palaces,” the annual Sovereign Grant Report said.
The total grant of £86.3 million ($118.50 million), which by law remains the same as the three previous financial years, is comprised of a £51.8 million ($71.1 million), core grant and £34.5 million ($47.4 million) to fund the refurbishment of Buckingham Palace.
Buckingham Palace, a top tourist attraction in central London, is undergoing a major modernization project that will see upgrades to electric cabling, pipework, elevators and accessible bathrooms.
The report also said the Royal Household will increase its use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and continue the electrification of its fleet of vehicles.
Last year, the Royal Household announced it aimed to transition to an “almost fully electric” fleet of vehicles, without providing a target date. Britain’s PA Media reported that the King’s two Bentleys would be modified to run on biofuel.
The royal family’s three main sources of income are the Sovereign Grant, the Duchy of Lancaster and Duchy of Cornwall estates and their personal property and investments.
The level of funding for the British royal family has long fueled criticism, with one anti-monarchy group calling for the Sovereign Grant to be abolished and for the British public to keep all the profits of the Crown Estate.
“The grant system is mad. Funding goes up not because of any need for extra money, but because the grant is linked to government profits from land managed by the Crown Estate,” Graham Smith, a campaigner for the group Republic, said in a statement earlier this year. “The palace has recycled the excuse of needing the money for refurbishment of Buckingham Palace, an excuse used to double the grant ten years ago.”
“It’s time that half a billion pounds was put to good use, that there was proper accounting for the cost of the monarchy and for that cost to be slashed to just a few million pounds,” Smith added.
The Keeper of the Privy Purse, James Chalmers, said in a statement on Monday as the report was released: “Soft power is hard to measure but its value is, I believe, now firmly understood at home and abroad, as the core themes of the new reign have come into even sharper focus, and the Royal Family have continued in their service to the nation, Realms and Commonwealth.”
