‘Astronomical’: Kate’s insane salary revealed

But what about the princess? Like, a really good princess?

Sure. And that’s the point. The number is nothing short of astronomical..

This week, the royal family’s latest accounts for the 2024 tax year were released, documents as dull as some greasy, flat dishwashing liquid and bananas all at once.

(Do you know how much it costs to use the Royal Train just once? $102,000. And $1.1 million to store the straw for the rest of the year.)

One of those long PDFs was from the Duchy of Cornwall, the vast private estate created in the 14th century to support the Prince of Wales and now worth $2.46 billion.

Thus, since his elevation to the position in 2022, Prince William and his wife have become Kate, Princess of Wales They received huge increases in wages, while pocketing the annual surplus of the duchy.

My goodness, what a huge surplus. We learned this week that William and Kate made $46.1 million last year.

That equates to – one pregnancy, divided by seven, and indexed to Prince Louis needing new shoes on a monthly basis – $126,301 a day, a truly staggering figure that should make everyone on the tea menu at Republic’s UK headquarters positively spit out their organic potato chips.

Or let me put it another way.

Last year, the prince and princess earned as much as at least 635 nurses. And remember when the princess appeared at the Wimbledon men’s final two weeks ago? She and William have earned nearly $1.7 million since then.

On the other hand, this is all beautiful for William and Kate.

Unlike sovereign grant money – which can only be used to fund official expenses for work they do on behalf of the Crown – this Cornwall money can be spent on all the illicit ventures and Bugattis their little hearts desire (although they actually drive very reasonable Audis).

But on the other hand, their enormous personal wealth also poses an image problem for these people.

It immediately becomes more difficult for the prince and princess to describe themselves as loyal, hardworking, dedicated servants of the people and the public good when we remember that they earn tens of millions of dollars doing so.

Would Mother Teresa have the same reputation if it had been revealed that she had bought Microsoft stock in the 1980s? Or if Malala Yousafzai had been a large owner of Bitcoin?

These kinds of reminders of how ordinary William and Kate are one percenters — despite their Marks & Spencer jackets, and how much they talk about being a normal family — make that task all the more difficult.

One detail that was not in the Duchy report was how willing they were to put their own money where their mouths were.

“The prince and princess are looking to make a real impact and help people using their voice and platform,” Ian Patrick, Prince William’s new private secretary, said this week. But “impact,” “voice” and “platform” do not necessarily translate to “using their own money.”

We know William and Kate have put their hands in their pockets to help.

Patrick said Wales “regularly do private charitable work”, including, in the past 12 months, making donations to earthquake relief appeals in Turkey and Syria, Hurricane Beryl recovery, war-related charities in Ukraine, the London Air Ambulance Service, supporting the mental health support service Shout which they helped set up, and James’ Place, a charity supporting men in crisis.

Let’s be honest – this is a lot better than most people think – but we’re not talking about ordinary people, we’re talking about a couple whose bank account is growing by about $200,000.

Every day of the year.

The Princess of Wales also deserves full marks, as she is already doing things differently, setting aside 24 properties in one development in the Duchy for the homeless, and pledging to build more than 400 homes for social rent in another.

But the Duchy of Cornwall owns 135,000 acres of land across the UK. They could probably find space to build more than two dozen properties given William’s efforts to help end homelessness.

The point of contention lies in the question of the proportionality of their wealth and whatever their personal contributions.

(The same goes for King Charles, too. How much does he personally support his various charities? In December 2022, it was announced that he would personally help hundreds of food banks across the UK buy new fridges and freezers. But will even the mass demand for home appliances make any dent in the nearly $1.2 billion Charles inherited from his late mother?)

Another figure traded this week was £1 million, or $1.9 million.

That’s the amount William helped raise earlier this month by taking part in a charity polo match, which was then split between 11 charities. Assuming each charity got an equal share, that comes to $172,727 per charity.

In other words, that’s less than what William and Kate earn in less than a day and a half.

The truth is that the Prince and Princess of Wales have spent the past two years reorganising the way they work – more about some of the world’s biggest challenges like the climate crisis and mental health, less about opening Scout halls in Sheffield – to make the monarchy look like a useful group that can do that.

Charles and Queen Camilla also fall under this banner, as they all work hard to make the Crown Corporation appear relevant and a net positive for British society.

But this argument becomes much more difficult to prove when we remember the generous rewards the Windsors receive for their work to ensure their survival.

This latest ducal accounting only highlights the larger problem of the opacity surrounding royal finances in general.

The Windsors have always seemed a bit erratic and not entirely straightforward when it comes to money matters. Take Prince Andrew, for example, who, with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, bought himself a $37 million ski chalet in Switzerland despite having less than $500,000 in allowance from his late mother.

Or the very special tax arrangements enjoyed by the Duchy of Cornwall.

The king is not a perfect model here either.

One scandal that failed to get as much coverage as it should have was the revelation in 2021 that the king had accepted $5.85 million in donations to his charity in cash in bags, including in a plastic bag made by Fortnum & Mason, from a Qatari politician.

Or the bombshell the following year when Charles accepted a nearly $2 million donation from Osama bin Laden’s family.

All that money went to support his charities, but oh my – imagine what the headlines would have been if it had emerged that Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, had accepted a donation to their Archewell Foundation from anyone with the surname Bin Laden.

Newspaper publishing plants in the UK will run out of angry red ink within a day.

This week’s stories also raise another inevitable question: Is it worth it?

Does the Royal Family provide value for the $1.51 it costs every Briton?

It’s a question that has always pitted Cromwellian critics against those who wave flags and cite with passion how much the Windsors support the national GDP.

Notorious B.I.G.’s lyrics have never been more applicable – More money? More problems.

Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and royal commentator with over 15 years’ experience. Experience working with a number of leading media titles in Australia.