Royal spending rises as young princes do more

THE amount spent by the Prince of Wales on funding the activities of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry increased by 40 per cent with the arrival of Meghan Markle into the Royal family.

Prince Charles paid £4.96million towards the activities of Prince William, his wife and Prince Harry last year, an increase of £1.43m on the previous year.

The increase coincided with Ms Markle’s engagement to Prince Harry in November last year. The rise in expenditure on the activities of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge is understood to reflect their increased role in public life, following the Queen’s decision to reduce her number of duties.

Funding for Prince William, Kate and Prince Harry’s activities is recorded under “Other Costs”, which also includes capital expenditure and transfer to reserves, but there is no further breakdown or detail.

Palace sources acknowledged that the extra £1.43m spent by the Prince of Wales on his children coincided with the arrival of Ms Markle, but added it was not solely due to any one individual.