Prince William was today revealed to be a billionaire and even richer than his father King Charles with a net worth via the Duchy of Cornwall of £1.2billion.
The Duchy reported the total net assets figure, mostly made up of investment property – while William received a private income of £21.6million in 2025-26.
His net worth is above the King’s, who was in the latest Sunday Times Rich List at 238th place with a personal fortune of £640million, up £30million on the year before.
William paid £7.76million in 2024-25 income and capital gains tax, and £8.34million in 2023-24, having now paid over £20million to HMRC since becoming Prince of Wales.
His 2024-25 tax was an effective rate of 34 per cent of the £22.9million private income he received that year from the Duchy – while Charles paid a 45 per cent rate.
As heir to the throne, 44-year-old William is entitled to the annual profits from the Duchy landed estate, which covers 51,800 hectares across 19 counties.
William, who became the 25th Duke of Cornwall in 2022, has never previously published his own tax bill, despite the King doing so when he was Duke of Cornwall.
Royal aides claimed William made the decision himself for greater transparency, coinciding with Charles releasing his tax bill for the first time as monarch.
William pays income tax voluntarily at the highest rate on any net surplus, but once official expenditure has been deducted.
The Duchy income is used to fund the charitable, private and part of the official lives of William, Kate and their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
Meanwhile, William is also said to have decided he will no longer personally benefit from the controversial £1.5million annual rent generated by the abandoned Dartmoor Prison.
William has asked for the sum to be removed from the income he receives from the Duchy from 2026-27 onwards, with the money spent on regenerating the local community instead.
A Dispatches and Sunday Times investigation in 2024 discovered the Duchy signed a £37million deal in 2022, before Charles became King and William the Prince of Wales, to lease Dartmoor Prison to the Ministry of Justice, paying £1.5million a year over 25 years, and a deal with the Ministry of Defence to allow the armed forces to train on Dartmoor land.
But the category C prison in Devon has been empty since July 2024 after high levels of radon, a toxic gas that occurs naturally in soil and rocks and can cause lung cancer, were recorded in prisoners’ accommodation.
William and Charles during a visit to Duchy Home Farm in Gloucestershire in May 2004. In 2020, the King chose not to renew the lease on the 900-acre site near Highgrove House
A community-led regeneration fund will be launched next year to offer social, economic and environmental benefits to Princetown, the isolated rural community next to the prison.
The prince’s private secretary Ian Patrick said: ‘Prince William knows that for many people in Princetown, the prison has long been part of the fabric of the community.
‘Its closure has created genuine uncertainty, not just about jobs and businesses, but about the future of the town itself.
‘The duke felt strongly that, while those questions remain unanswered, the benefit of this income should remain in the community, helping local people shape that future.’
Speaking about William releasing the figures today, Mr Patrick added: ‘The prince recognises the interest in these arrangements and the importance of appropriate transparency.’
Kensington Palace said the number of staff employed by the couple’s household has risen to 74 from 68.
Diversity figures show 14.9 per cent of staff were from an ethnic minority background, up from 13.2 per cent of staff the year before, and that 73 per cent of Kensington Palace staff are female and 27 per cent male.
