- Charles's tax bill soars by £900,000 to £4,398,000
- Spending on travel up 56% to £1,080,000
- Camilla and Charles travel 34,000 miles on official trips
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:47 PM on 28th June 2011
Prince Charles and Camilla in Morocco in April: His spending on official travel by air and rail came to £1,080,000, up £388,000 from the previous year
The Prince of Wales's funding from the taxpayer increased by nearly 18 per cent last year, official accounts showed today.
Charles's income from grants-in-aid and Government departments rose 17.9 per cent from £1,664,000 to £1,962,000.
He also saw his private funding from the Duchy of Cornwall - the landed estate given to the heir to the throne - go up by nearly 4 per cent to £17,796,000.
The Prince's tax bill soared by more than £900,000 last year, rising 26.2 per cent to £4,398,000.
Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall travelled some 34,000 miles to and from official engagements in 2010/11, including more than 14,000 miles on overseas trips.
Spending on official travel by air and rail came to £1,080,000, up £388,000 or 56 per cent from the previous year.
Charles and Camilla visited Portugal, Spain and Morocco in March and April, and toured India last October after the Prince opened the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
Their transport costs rose, despite travelling 8,600 fewer miles last year, the accounts show.
The average cost of their official travel soared from £16.13 per mile in 2009/10 to £31.50 per mile in 2010/11.
The Prince's principal private secretary, Sir Michael Peat, said the accounts showed an increase in costs because the major royal overseas trip to Canada in 2009 was paid for by the Canadian government.
'Actually, the carbon emissions and the miles travelled have gone down because their Royal Highnesses did longer journeys overseas in 2009/10 than they did in 2010/11,' he said.
Charles gives a speech before a state dinner at Belem Presidential Palace in Lisbon, Portugal in March. The average cost of his official travel soared from £16.13 per mile in 2009/10 to £31.50 per mile in 2010/11
'It's all skewed by the fact that the longest journey in 2009/10 was to Canada, and the Canadians paid for it.
'So the cost didn't appear in our accounts last year but the carbon emissions did.'
Sir Michael added: 'Of course, that increase has nothing to do with us in that the Prince and the Duchess don't decide what overseas travel they do on behalf of the Foreign Office and the Government.'
Charles's funding from the Duchy of Cornwall fell slightly in real terms, with rental income flat and the increase coming largely from investments in bonds.
Sir Michael said this was 'in the circumstances a very creditable performance'.
The Prince's non-official expenditure rose £488,000 to £2,539,000, in small part to cover expenses related to the Royal wedding between the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in April
All polls Click to view yesterday's poll results The Prince's non-official expenditure rose £488,000, or 50 per cent, to £2,539,000, in small part to cover expenses related to the Royal wedding between the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in April but primarily because Charles has increased his personal donations to charity.
The full-time equivalent of 132.8 members of staff were employed to support Charles, Camilla, William, Kate and Prince Harry at the end of March this year, up from 124 in 2010.
Five new aides have been taken on - three to work for the newly created royal households of William, Kate and Harry, one to assist with the Prince of Wales's website, and one at Charles's estate in Highgrove, Gloucestershire.
Charles and Camilla are welcomed by Morocan Prince Moulay Rachid (right) upon arrival at Rabat airport in Morocco earlier this year
The other extra positions were either temporary staff taken on to help with arrangements for the royal wedding or vacancies that had not been filled in 2010.
The announcement of Kate and William's engagement in November contributed to a large increase in the number of letters received by the young couple, Charles, Camilla and Harry last year, from 24,616 to 35,968.
In 2010/11 Charles personally wrote 2,164 letters, Camilla wrote 1,374 and they wrote 13 jointly.
THE GREEN PRINCE EMBRACES SOLAR ENERGY
Heading for Highgrove: Photovoltaic panels
The Prince's accounts also show that his household's carbon emissions fell by 22 per cent last year, from 5,120 tonnes of CO2 to 3,986 tonnes.
In 2010, Charles had an array of 30 solar photovoltaic panels installed on the roof of Clarence House, his official London residence, which are expected to produce about 4,000 kilowatt hours of green electricity a year from the sun's energy.
More than 400 photovoltaic panels, capable of generating some 80,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each year, are currently being fitted at Home Farm at Highgrove.
Sir Michael said electricity 'might well' be fed back into the National Grid, generating a new source of income for the Prince, if the solar panels produce more power than is needed.
Anti-monarchy group Republic, which has demanded that revenue from the Duchy of Cornwall go to the Treasury, called on the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee to launch an inquiry into Charles's funding.
Spokesman Graham Smith said: 'Charles's spending is spiralling out of control. Why on earth are taxpayers continuing to fund his lavish lifestyle when public services are being cut?
'We'll be writing to the Public Accounts Committee urging them to launch a formal inquiry into Charles's finances, including the lost revenue from the Duchy of Cornwall.
'Even at the best of times, there is little justification for spending public money on Charles Windsor.
'He is not a public official, he can quite easily afford his own security, travel and accommodation costs. We do not need to be spending millions on sending him around the world.'
Music to one's ears: A new official harpist to the Prince of Wales
A musician spoke of her delight after being chosen to be the official harpist to the Prince of Wales.
Hannah Stone, 24, becomes the fourth person to take on the prestigious role - which aims to foster musical talent in Wales as well as the raise the profile of the harp.
Miss Stone, originally from Mumbles, Swansea, was picked for the role after being nominated by her former university tutors and then going through an audition process.
The Prince of Wales speaks with his new official harpist Hannah Stone during a reception for the Cambrian Mountain Initiative at his Welsh farm in Carmarthenshire, where he is staying during his week-long tour
She will make her debut performance tonight at a reception hosted by Charles to launch The Cambrian Mountains Ambassadors Scheme - before a string of performances during his and the Duchess of Cornwall's annual visit to Wales.
The former Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr pupil has already performed on several occasions for members of the Royal Family.
Most recently, she played at the opening of the fourth Welsh Assembly for The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh and Charles and Camilla.
She has also played for The Queen on Her Majesty's Jubilee Tour of Wales in 2002.
She said: 'I am honoured to have been appointed Official Harpist to HRH The Prince of Wales.
Hannah Stone, 24, becomes the fourth person to take on the prestigious role
'I found out about the news a few weeks ago and it has been very difficult keeping it quiet.
'The auditions process was quite surreal, because I was performing to a small panel. In some ways, it was more nerve-racking than playing to a packed concert hall or auditorium.'
A keen performer from the age of eight, Miss Stone studied under the guidance of Meinir Heulyn, head of harp at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Dance, before moving to London.
During this time, she was a prize-winner at a number of national competitions - including the Urdd Eisteddfod and the International Eisteddfod.
In London, Hannah studied with Imogen Barford, head of harp at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama - where she completed her Bachelor of Music degree followed by her Master of Music degree.
Since then she has performed in venues around the world, including the Barbican Centre and the Museum of London as well as performing alongside opera legend Dame Kiri Te Kanawa during the Singapore Sun Festival in 2008.
The post of Official Harpist to HRH The Prince of Wales was reinstated in 2000 to foster musical talent in Wales and to raise the profile of the harp as an instrument.
Miss Stone follows in the footsteps of the current postholder, Claire Jones, who was appointed in June 2007.
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