Despite the British tabloids' weird tendency
to blame Meghan Markle for just about everything,
there's at least one title that can't be dumped
on her: that of the most expensive royal.
Take travel, for example.
According to the International Business Times,
it was Prince Charles who spent the largest
amount of money on travel from 2018 to 2019.
"Road trip!"
As you might expect, Prince Charles is quite
the globe-trotter.
The British royals are generally expected
to participate in excursions abroad, given
the countless engagements they have to take
part in, and Charles is no exception.
According to the Express, he spent nearly
half of the family's travel budget from April
1st, 2018 through to March 31st, 2019.
His own personal travel budget reportedly
added up to £1.3 million.
Joint airfare and rail costs for the heir
to the throne and his wife, Camilla, totaled
£1.33 million in that time period.
Generally, Charles likes to keep his feet
in the ground - when traveling, he apparently
prefers to go by train, which reportedly costs
about £20,000 per trip.
But the train isn't always an option.
In 2019, Charles and Camilla became the first
royals to visit Cuba for an official trip.
To get there, they traveled on a Royal Air
Force Voyager military plane, while their
staff used regular, scheduled flights for
the trip.
In total, Charles and Camilla's tour of the
Caribbean and Cuba cost £417,000.
So how do Prince Charles' travels stack up
to the rest of the royal family?
By comparison, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's
royal tour to New Zealand, Australia, Tonga,
and Fiji cost £81,000.
Prince William's historic trip to Jordan,
Israel, and the West Bank reportedly cost
about £74,000.
That means Charles and Camilla's Caribbean
and Cuba tour cost more than five times the
amount of Harry and Meghan's trip.
According to a royal document cited by Newsweek,
Queen Elizabeth's travels appear to be the
cheapest of all.
Most of the Queen's trips cost between £16,000
and £21,000.
Her most pricey excursion was reportedly a
train ride with Markle to visit the Storyhouse
theatre and Chester Town Hall in June 2018.
That trip cost £29,714.
For what it's worth, Prince Charles and Camila's
aforementioned excursion to the Caribbean
and Cuba cost 14 times that amount.
So where does all that money come from?
Well, according to Town and Country, royal
visits are usually funded by British taxpayers
through something called the Sovereign Grant
- which is a sum of money granted to the monarch
annually for official duties.
From 2018 to 2019, that amount was £82.2
million, which is the U.S. equivalent of about
$104 million.
Town and Country calculated that expense comes
to £1.24 per person in the U.K - or around
$1.58.
This might seem particularly startling considering
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles aren't
even required to pay income taxes - but the
truth is they actually choose to pay an amount
equivalent to what their taxes would be.
Prince Charles also gives money to Prince
Harry and Prince William via his private estate,
the Duchy of Cornwall.
He reportedly gave his sons and their families
£4.9m in 2018.
However, now that the Duke and Duchess of
Sussex plan to step back from royal duties
and work to become financially independent,
it's unclear how much financial support Charles
will provide in the future.
But Charles doesn't just spend money - he
makes it, too.
The royal family is estimated to generate
at least £2 billion of annual incremental
revenue to the British market.
Even his lavish travel expenses can be counted
as money well spent.
Speaking to the Express, a palace aide explained
that there's a good reason why the Prince
of Wales travels so much.
They said:
"His overseas travel was at the behest of
the Foreign Office, who realizes he is a terrific
ambassador for Britain."
Basically, Charles isn't jet-setting around
the world just because he feels like it.
In fact, his presence abroad is practically
demanded by the British government.
Good excuse for a vacation, though, don't
you think?
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