{"id":279338,"date":"2026-06-26T21:29:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T21:29:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/279338\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T21:29:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T21:29:53","slug":"king-and-queens-decision-sparks-scrutiny-optics-are-likely-to-raise-eyebrows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/279338\/","title":{"rendered":"King and Queen’s decision sparks scrutiny: ‘Optics are likely to raise eyebrows’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Royal Family have made a “significant step”, but a royal commentator exclusively told GB News that the King and Queen refraining from moving into Buckingham Palace is “raising eyebrows”.<\/p>\n

Royal documents were issued on Thursday evening, showing, for the first time, the monarch’s voluntary tax contribution.<\/p>\n

King Charles paid \u00a312.9million in income tax in 2025\/26, placing him within the top 100 contributors in the UK, while the Prince of Wales paid \u00a37.76million over the same period.<\/a><\/p>\n

However, the accounts also show a dramatic 37.5 per cent increase in official net expenditure over the last 12 months.<\/p>\n

This year, royal accounts show expenditure reached \u00a3117.2million, a far cry from the \u00a385.2million spent in 2024\/25.<\/a><\/p>\n

That includes sharp increases in official royal travel and the wage bill.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the monarchy will receive \u00a399.9million in two years based on \u00a3487million Crown Estate profits and under a new 20.5 per cent formula agreed with the Government, compared with \u00a3132million in 2025\/26.<\/p>\n

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said this was a “significant step” for the family, adding: “It isn\u2019t as transparent as many would like but, apart from the US, almost no heads of state share more details.”<\/p>\n

The King and Queen also revealed on Thursday thatthey will not return to permanently reside in Buckingham Palace<\/a>, despite the major refurbishment project costing the public a whopping \u00a3369million.<\/p>\n

Instead, they will live in Clarence House near St James’s Palace, ending a 200-year tradition of the monarch living in the Palace.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr Fitzwilliams believes that Buckingham Palace’s importance to the Crown will remain unwavering.<\/p>\n

He reminded fans: “It\u2019s easy to forget that they are responsible for the upkeep of Windsor Castle, St James\u2019s Palace and Kensington Palace; there are the issues of cyber security and of cutting emissions.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The King and Queen | Source: PA<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t think it will change Buckingham Palace’s importance if they don\u2019t live there.<\/p>\n

“It will still be ‘Monarchy HQ’; it is an iconic building known throughout the world, and there will be much more public access.<\/p>\n

“The balcony remains the focus of loyalty after weddings, during jubilees, after Trooping the Colour.”<\/p>\n

However, he added, “the optics are likely to raise eyebrows” given that every monarch has resided in the Palace since Queen Victoria, around two centuries ago.<\/p>\n

“The Waleses were never going to live there,” he noted. The couple are understood to see Forest Lodge, their current eight-bedroom Windsor property, as their “forever home”.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the King has lived at Clarence House since 2003.<\/p>\n

“The Palace can be very unwelcoming to live in, so to stay put makes sense,” Mr Fitzwilliams concluded.<\/p>\n

Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Royal Family have made a “significant step”, but a royal commentator exclusively told GB News that the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-279338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}