Value of royal journey falls as variety of official abroad journeys drop
R
oyal journey prices have fallen by £600,000 to £3.9 million, however the expenditure on helicopter flights has topped £1 million, new accounts present.
A lot of journeys had been taken by helicopter, 179 journeys in complete, throughout 2022-23, however their particulars will not be listed as they fall under a £17,000 value threshold.
The info was launched within the Sovereign Grant annual report on royal funds for 2022-23, which listed main royal journeys.
The costliest was Charles and Camilla’s constitution flight to Rwanda in June final 12 months to attend a Commonwealth leaders’ summit, costing £186,571. The sum additionally paid for the King to journey to Aberdeen, from Brize Norton, after the journey and for a workers planning go to.
During a briefing for final 12 months accounts a supply mentioned Charles is “pretty allergic” to travelling by helicopter and can at all times “raise an eyebrow” and object when the mode of transport is usually recommended.
The drop in journey prices for 2022-23 could partly be defined by a fall within the variety of abroad journeys.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman mentioned: “We also saw a 43% decrease in business travel emissions, largely due to the reduced number of overseas visits requested by Government this year.”
Other main abroad journeys included the King and Queen’s first state go to, which took them to Hamburg and Berlin in Germany by constitution costing £146,219.
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh’s official Platinum Jubilee journey to St Lucia, St Vincent and Antigua, and a separate workers planning go to, value £85,069.
The Prince and Princess of Wales’ scheduled airline flight, and a workers planning go to, to Boston within the US to attend the awards ceremony for William’s Earthshot Prize value £48,034.
There had been various residence to residence chartered flights made by Charles, one taken from Aberdeen to RAF Northolt final October value £25,687, whereas one other with Camilla, travelling from RAF Northolt to Aberdeen in September, value £23,164.
The King used the royal prepare in January travelling from Ayr to Manchester to hold out a string of engagements at each places over two days at a value of £31,571.
Asked about the way forward for the royal prepare a Buckingham Palace spokesman mentioned: “Once we determine what the future usage will be we’d be in a position to consider plans for a time table for decommissioning.”