Globe-trotting royals are costing a king's ransom: Taxpayers' £154,000 bill for first trip on 'cost-cutting' royal jet as cost of travel soars by £4.5m in a year (and Queen gets an 8% 'pay rise')

Taxpayers face a bill of up to £154,000 for the first official trip on the new 'cost-cutting' royal jet, Buckingham Palace accounts reveal today.

The invoice, for Prince Charles and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall to go on a tour to Romania, Italy and Austria this March, is expected to be the single most expensive journey taken by a member of the Royal Family in the past year.

Their plane, an RAF-operated converted Voyager – nicknamed Cam Force One after former prime minister David Cameron, who sanctioned it – was refitted at a cost of £10million to provide official transport for Government ministers and members of the Royal Family.

Royal officials have 'not yet received the bill' from the RAF for Charles's nine-day trip but have been given three estimates. The highest of the three, which features in the royal accounts released today, is £154,000.

In all, £4.5million was spent on royal travel in 2016/2017 – a rise of £500,000 or 12.5 per cent, on the previous year.

Senior royals clocked up 65 overseas visits between them, to places as far flung as Bhutan, Malaysia and Bahrain. Full story...

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