THE King’s annual income from his private Duchy of Lancaster estate – which includes Halton Castle – was more than £27million, accounts have shown.

King Charles III received the money from the Duchy, an ancient portfolio of land, property and assets which is held in trust for the sovereign, in his first full financial year as monarch.

This private Duchy income is separate from the taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant.

The estate includes the ruins of Halton Castle in Runcorn, which is leased from the Duchy by Halton Borough Council and managed by The Norton Priory Museum Trust.

On a hill overlooking the River Mersey, the first castle on this site was built in 1070, soon after the Norman Conquest, and extended and rebuilt over the following three centuries.

It served as a court and prison before being involved in two parliamentary sieges in 1643 and 1644 during the English Civil War, suffering extensive damage.

The Duchy of Lancaster has been the personal estate of the reigning monarch since 1399.

It spans more than 18,000 hectares of land in England and Wales and comprises commercial, agricultural and residential properties, mostly in Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire and Lincolnshire.

It gives the monarch a source of income for funding his private activities and some official expenditure, but the breakdown of how the King spends the private money – which is independent of the Government – is not released.

The net surplus of the Lancaster estate, to which the King is entitled via the Privy Purse, increased by £1.2million – or five per cent – to £27.4 million in 2023/24, accounts published on the Duchy of Lancaster website showed on Wednesday.

The King acceded to the throne partway through the previous financial year of 2022/23.

The Duchy’s net asset value has also increased by £6.4 million, up one per cent to £647.6 million.

Royal commentator Peter Hunt said of the King’s Duchy income: “There is no public scrutiny of how it is spent because it is regarded as private income.”

Nathan Thompson, the outgoing Duchy of Lancaster’s chief executive, said a strong performance in the agriculture sector had boosted the accounts.

Revenue from the Duchy’s let commercial and industrial properties had also increased by 8.7 per cent.

Mr Thompson said: “The diverse nature of the portfolio continues to provide the business with resilience and strength.”

The bulk of the King’s official duties, such as travel, property maintenance, hospitality and official staff costs, are met by the Sovereign Grant, which is funded by the taxpayer in exchange for the King’s surrender of the revenue from the Crown Estate.