Royal train will end 156 years of service as King Charles III seeks to economize

Britain's King Charles III arrives by royal carriage during day five of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse England Saturday June Andrew Matthews PA via AP AP Andrew Matthews Britain's King Charles III arrives by royal carriage during day five of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse England Saturday June Andrew Matthews PA via AP AP Andrew Matthews LONDON AP The Royal Train will soon leave the station for the last time King Charles III has accepted it s time to decommission the train whose history dates back to Queen Victoria because it costs too much to operate and would have needed a substantial upgrade for more advanced rail systems Buckingham Palace announced Monday In moving forwards we must not be bound by the past mentioned James Chalmers the palace official in charge of the king s financial affairs Just as so numerous parts of the royal household s work have modernized and adapted to reflect the world of nowadays so too the time has come to bid the fondest of farewells as we seek to be disciplined and forward-looking in our allocation of funding The train definitely a suite of nine railcars that can be hitched to commercial locomotives will be decommissioned sometime before the current maintenance contract expires in That will bring to an end a tradition that dates back to when Queen Victoria commissioned a pair of special coaches to accommodate her travels The decision was reported during the palace s annual briefing for reporters on the royal finances The royal family will for the fourth consecutive year receive populace funding of million pounds million including million pounds to fund the remodeling of Buckingham Palace in the months through March This money comes from a mechanism known as the Sovereign Grant which sets aside of the net income from the Crown Estate to fund the official duties of the king and other members of the royal family The Crown Estate is a portfolio of properties that are owned by the monarch during his reign The properties are professionally managed and the king cannot dispose of the assets The Crown Estate is one of the plenty of relics of Britain s feudal past King George III who ruled during the American Revolution surrendered management of the crown lands to Parliament in in return for a fixed payment from the Treasury The royal finances remain a topic of populace debate with Charles pledging to slim down the monarchy and cut costs as he seeks to ensure the institution s survival Buckingham Palace was quick to point out that while the Sovereign Grant has been unchanged for the past four years inflation has eroded its value If the grant had increased in line with inflation it would have been about million pounds this year the palace disclosed The basic grant was supplemented with million pounds million of income generated by properties outside the Crown Estate This income increased by million pounds driven by a record year for visitors to Buckingham Palace and special tours of the newly renovated East Wing Craig Prescott a constitutional law expert at Royal Holloway University of London who focuses on the political role of the monarchy declared funding for the royals is relatively small when compared to the overall cost of the British state and it provides tangible benefits for the country It s something that puts Britain on the world stage in a way that limited other things do he revealed noting that Queen Elizabeth II s funeral was the largest gathering of world leaders in history and the coronation was broadcast around the world It s one of those things that people think about when they think about Britain Over the past year Charles traveled to Australia and attended the Commonwealth Heads of Ruling body Meeting in Samoa his first as the organization s head The royals also took center stage at the th anniversaries of D-Day and V-E Day which marked the end of World War II in Europe and welcomed the leaders of Japan and Qatar as they made state visits to the U K Overall the royals made community appearances in the U K and overseas Specific guests attended events at the royal palaces Source