King Charles Will Not Live at Buckingham Palace After Renovation

King Charles skips Buckingham Palace

King Charles III will not live at Buckingham Palace after the completion of a 10-year, $487 million refurbishment program, marking a break from a nearly 200-year-old tradition. Royal officials have stressed that the king and Queen Camilla will continue to work out of the palace, which will remain "the ceremonial and operational center" of the monarchy.

The decision was announced during a briefing on royal finances, at which Charles became the first British monarch to reveal the taxes he paid to the government. The king paid $16.1 million in income and capital gains taxes in the 2024-25 financial year, up from $15.4 million the previous year. According to James Chalmers, the senior royal official responsible for managing the king's financial affairs, "It is and will remain Monarchy HQ, the crown jewel of our national buildings."

Buckingham Palace has been the London home of every British monarch since Queen Victoria and has 775 rooms, providing office space for the royal bureaucracy and hosting lavish state dinners for visiting presidents and potentates. The palace is also a focal point for the public, with crowds gathering under its famous balcony to cheer as kings and queens announce the end of wars, celebrate their marriages, and mark historic events.

The palace was starting to show its age, prompting the royal household to begin a 10-year program to update obsolete plumbing, wiring, and heating and upgrade the building in 2017. The project is scheduled to be completed next year. By deciding to live at Clarence House, a stately home close to the palace where Charles has lived since he was Prince of Wales, the king and queen will allow the palace to increase public access, hosting more events and expanding the number of visitors and tours of the building.

Royal watchers are waiting for more details about plans for the palace. Ed Owens, author of "After Elizabeth: Can the Monarchy Save Itself," said it would be a shame if the building lies vacant for much of the year. "I'm hoping for a second act in terms of this decision," he told The Associated Press. "I'm waiting to see whether there will be a sort of a more radical proposal for what Buckingham Palace might be in the future."

The announcements come as the royal family tries to shift the narrative after months of embarrassing headlines about the links between the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the former Prince Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. The public's focus on Mountbatten-Windsor has overshadowed the king's efforts to modernize the monarchy and show that the 1,000-year-old institution can evolve.

Craig Prescott, an expert on constitutional law and the monarchy at Royal Holloway, University of London, said that the king's decision to reveal his tax details underscores the idea that the monarchy is a public institution and its workings should be public. "If they're open and as transparent as possible, then the contrast with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor becomes all the greater," he said.

Prince William, the current Prince of Wales, also released his tax details, paying 7.76 million pounds in income and capital gains taxes in the 2024-25 tax year, down from 8.34 million pounds the previous year. The figures give the public a concrete idea about the King's personal wealth, as opposed to the castles, jewels, and artwork that go with the job but aren't the monarch's personal property.

The decision to not live in Buckingham Palace has been taken partly to increase public access to the London landmark, as security concerns if the king was in residence would limit numbers and areas people could visit. According to a palace spokesperson, "It will remain a working home but we are seeking to widen public access precisely to maximise the national benefit of a publicly funded building."