We're all in this together (part19)

Not royalty of course. You can't expect Them to behave like we peasants are obliged to do. The Guardian reports:

Prince Charles's income – including funding from the taxpayer for his official duties – rose by nearly £1m last year, according to figures published in the annual review of his activities. His aides insisted that the increases were either not rises at all, or reflected an increase in official visits undertaken at the government's behest.

... Remarkably, although the review indicates the prince travelled 34,000 miles on royal duties in the past year, to the end of this March – 9,000 fewer than the previous year – and halved the amount of foreign travel he undertook, the cost rose by £388,000, to £1,080,000. On a simple cost basis that represents £31.50 a mile, compared with £16.13 the previous year.

Prince Charles's income from grants-in-aid, to subsidise his royal duties, and from government departments, rose by £298,000 to £1.962m. His main income, which comes from the duchy of Cornwall – the ancestral estates of princes of Wales – was up by nearly 4% last year to £17,796,000, owing to profits from his bonds portfolio.

Republican curmudgeons will pontificate about scrounging off state benefits, but enough of such whingeing. Look on the bright side. HRH is doing his best to counteract job losses in the public sector:

The size of the household – 132.8 members of staff compared with 124 the previous year – increased slightly.

Accordingly, let us celebrate this wise and sensible successor to his illustrious ancestors.