bitchy | Prince William received a $30 million ‘salary’ from the Duchy of Cornwall for 2025

Yet more year-end disclosures, reviews and keenery from Kensington Palace. The courtiers have been busy little bees in the past week, and my guess is that Prince William and Kate are already on their post-Christmas holiday and they have no idea what their staffers are doing or saying. Nor do they really care! Well, William’s office made some year-end disclosures about the Duchy of Cornwall, which is the large real-estate empire William inherited when he became Prince of Wales (and Duke of Cornwall). When King Charles was PoW, he transformed the duchy and made it a much more corporate entity. William hasn’t built much of anything onto his father’s duchy legacy. William just wanders around duchy-held land and yammers about mental health. And for that, William has been paid $30 million in 2025.

Prince William’s role as Prince of Wales comes with significant financial resources. A report from June 2025 revealed Prince William received a hefty $30 million for his second year’s income from the Duchy of Cornwall estate. The Duchy of Cornwall is a title and estate he inherited when his father, King Charles, ascended the throne in 2022.

The Duchy of Cornwall published its Integrated Annual Report for 2025 earlier this year, revealing a distributable surplus of £22.9 million ($30.9 million) for the 2024-2025 financial year, Prince William’s second year as the Duke of Cornwall. This sum covers the official, charitable and private expenses of Prince William, Kate Middleton and their three children.

As a working member of the royal family, the Prince of Wales doesn’t receive a traditional income. Instead, his annual expenses are largely covered by the Duchy of Cornwall, an estate established by King Edward III in 1337 to provide funds for the heir to the throne. This vast estate, worth over $1 billion, spans 130,000 acres across 23 counties in England and Wales and includes land, farms, houses and other assets to support the heir and their family.

Prince William is understood to pay income tax on the entire income he receives from the Duchy of Cornwall, after subtracting household expenses, which have not been specified.

[From People]

When Charles was PoW, he began paying taxes and making specific disclosures about his taxes. William put an end to that when he took over the duchy – the only thing Kensington Palace offers now is a general statement that “of course he pays taxes, next question!” Anyway, it’s insane that William made $30 million in a year for going on a dozen vacations, skipping major events, putting up a fight about going to Pope Francis’s funeral, and going missing for weeks at a time. And that’s before we even get into the conversation about William being a slumlord.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.