Royal Family reveals true cost of trips abroad with over £2.6m spent on travel
![Prince William in Singapore/King and Queen in France/Princess Anne in Sri Lanka](https://www.gbnews.com/media-library/prince-william-in-singapore-king-and-queen-in-france-princess-anne-in-sri-lanka.png?id=52964457&width=1200&height=800&quality=90&coordinates=0%2C0%2C250%2C0)
Some of the royals' most high-profile trips included visits to Singapore and Sri Lanka
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The Royal Family spent almost £3million on travel in the last year, a new Buckingham Palace report has revealed.
As part of the newly-released annual Sovereign Grant report - which details how the royals spend their government funding - Buckingham Palace unveiled an in-depth schedule of all the family's official journeys in the 2023/24 financial year.
In that schedule, which includes both total travel spending and a detailed run-down of trips costing £17,000 or more, data shows the family and its staff splashed a minimum of £2.63million on a range of engagements in the UK and abroad.
The King's two state visits to Kenya and France topped the list, coming in at over £100,000 each - while a trip to Pickering in North Yorkshire aboard the Royal Train cost taxpayers some £52,000.
One of the most expensive trips was a journey aboard the Royal Train to Pickering
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The King and Queen's state visit to Kenya was the family's most expensive trip
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Prince William greeted crowds in Singapore on an Earthshot Prize trip
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Other notable outlays on travel included a visit by Princess Anne to Sri Lanka in January this year, at £48,000, and Prince William's trip to Kuwait in December 2023 following the death of the country's Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah.
Despite the King's cancer diagnosis, Charles still made the most high-value trips compared to other royals - but Princess Anne's wide-ranging series of engagements at home and abroad will only serve to bolster her reputation as one of the hardest-working members of the family.
But it wasn't just the King, Princess Royal and Prince of Wales spending thousands; other names which appeared in the high-value travel schedule included Prince Edward, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, and the Duke of Kent.
Also included was a "staff reconnaissance" trip to Singapore, Australia, Samoa and New Zealand ahead of the King's royal tour halfway across the world for a Commonwealth summit in October - which totalled some £31,000.
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The family has made trips to five out of seven continents in the last year
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The Prince of Wales visited the East Asian city-state in November 2023
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While the majority of the reported spending is funded by the Sovereign Grant, an unspecified amount was also funded by the UK's Foreign Office, as well as Prince William's climate foundation the Earthshot Prize.
The government and prize-funded trips included journeys to New York, Singapore, the UAE and Namibia - the former three all for climate change conferences, and the latter to the state funeral of the country's late President Hage Geingob.
The majority of the expensive trips were completed aboard charter flights - with just a handful on helicopters, commercial aircraft, or, of course, the Royal Train.
A number of the King's foreign engagements, including both his state visits, were undertaken on the British government's own private plane, RAF Voyager - which can be used by royals or ministers for official business.
While the family had to declare its £17,000+ outlays, the report also outlined a further £1.7million on hundreds of lower-cost trips on helicopters, private jets, and commercial rail or air travel.
The King and Queen board Britain's private plane, RAF Voyager
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The Princess Royal and Sir Tim Laurence donned traditional Sri Lankan clothing on their visit
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The King's plane, seen here in France during his state visit
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The Sovereign Grant report said that the King and Princess Kate's cancer diagnoses had meant travel requirements for the last year had decreased compared to the one before - with 2,327 official engagements listed versus a prior 2,710.
The report also outlined that the Royal Family had ordered two new helicopters to be introduced in the coming year to replace its existing pair of 15-year-old rotorcraft.
And it was keen to highlight the family's "pro-active" work to increase sustainability on its foreign travel via the use of "Sustainable Aviation Fuel" and a transition to an all-electric motor fleet.
Though the report noted that emissions will "continue to fluctuate each year depending on requests from Government for tours involving long haul charter flights".