Eye-watering royal renovation costs revealed – including King Charles’ £369m overhaul

In 2019, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester moved from Apartment 1 to the Old Stables, a much more modest home, but still within the grounds of Kensington Palace. Royal accounts revealed that refurbishment for the Duke and Duchess’ new home cost £400,000. According to the report: “The scheme allows for the complete refurbishment of the property, including the old and failing mechanical and electrical systems.”

Renovations at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s UK family home cost the taxpayer £2.4 million, according to the royal accounts. Frogmore Cottage was converted from five separate apartments into an official residence for Prince Harry and Meghan and their son, Prince Archie, in 2019, with the majority of the work completed in the month before he was born.

Significant structural work was required to restore the Grade II-listed property to a single home over a period of six months. Sir Michael Stevens, Keeper of the Privy Purse, who is responsible for royal accounts, said: “The property had not been the subject of work for some years and had already been earmarked for renovation in line with our responsibility to maintain the condition of the occupied royal palaces estate. The Sovereign Grant covered the work undertaken to turn the building into the official residence and home of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their new family.”

The couple now live stateside in an impressive Montecito mansion, and they have relinquished the lease on Frogmore Cottage. After stepping down as senior royals, they were forced to pay back the costs in full.

Prince Edward and his wife, Duchess Sophie, have been settled at their £30 million mansion, Bagshot Park in Surrey, since they married in 1999, but ahead of moving in, £2.98 million worth of renovations commenced.  

 As part of the lease agreement, the royals were responsible for paying for part of the works, and the Crown Estate also contributed. With the overall total fetching a whopping £2.98 million, the Earl paid £1.3 million and the estate footed the bill for £1.6 million.

The overhaul was painstaking due to the heritage of the property and took two whole years to complete.

As revealed in the 2014 Sovereign Grant report, renovations at the Prince and Princess of Wales’ Apartment 1A property at Kensington Palace cost the taxpayer £4.5 million over two years. The work included major roof repairs and asbestos removal, while Prince William and Kate paid privately for a second family kitchen to supplement the ‘working kitchen’ that is used for official events.

When King Charles (who was then Prince) relocated from St James’s Palace to Clarence House in 2003, some £4.5 million was used from public funds set aside for maintenance to renovate the property, which was previously home to his late grandmother, the Queen Mother. Charles also spent £1.65 million of his own money to cover removal costs, decorating rooms for his partner Camilla, and additional refurbishments.

Prince Andrew signed a lease agreement with the Crown Estate for Royal Lodge in 2003. The arrangement included the stipulation that the Duke must pay privately for the extensive renovation works that were needed at the property. It is estimated to have set the Duke back £7.5 million.

 A property expert who spoke to HELLO! explained that the lodge is now likely in need of urgent restoration again, and these works would cost upwards of £250,000. “Royal Lodge appears to be showing visible signs of ageing, including peeling paint, mould on exterior bricks, and likely underlying damp or poor insulation. These issues point to postponed maintenance that could lead to more serious structural damage if not addressed soon,” explained Terry Fisher of We Buy Any Home. There are questions as to whether the disgraced royal can now afford such renovations.

A ten-year renovation programme is well underway at the palace, and the total cost will come to a staggering £369 million when it finishes in 2017. The huge project aims to replace the Palace’s electrical cabling, plumbing and heating, to prevent the danger of catastrophic failure leading to fire or flood, as they haven’t been replaced since the 1950s.

Carrying out the work in phases over a ten-year period was found to be the most cost-effective way to replace the services, and while the project commenced when Queen Elizabeth II was still alive, it is now down to King Charles to oversee proceedings – and he’s even set up a clever initiative to get apprentices involved in the hard work.