The King and Queen will not move into the newly renovated Buckingham Palace when $700 million in work is finally finished next year, the latest royal accounts have revealed.

After a decade of taxpayer-funded renovations, the palace – the official London residence of the British sovereign since Queen Victoria in 1837 – will instead remain the monarchy’s administrative headquarters.

The King will keep nearby Clarence House as his official home.

Royal officials say the decision will allow greater public access to the landmark. They said the palace would still welcome thousands of guests every year, from world leaders on state visits to community heroes attending investitures and garden parties.

“His Majesty retains huge affection for Buckingham Palace and a deep respect for its role in royal and public life,” a spokesperson said.

“It will be a buzzing hive of royal activity in every other way.”

Heir-to-the-throne Prince William also reportedly has no plan to live at Buckingham Palace when he is king. He and wife Kate recently moved to an eight-bedroom residence on the Windsor estate, described by friends as their “forever home”.

The twin decisions mean Buckingham Palace’s days as the official royal residence appear to be over, at least for the foreseeable future.

Royals on the balcony at Buckingham Palace for Trooping the Colour in 2024. Photo: AAP

The King also made history on Friday by becoming the first monarch to release their tax payments. They showed he paid £12.9 million ($A24.6 million) tax in 2024-25 – putting him among Britain’s top 100 taxpayers.

William initially resisted releasing his own tax payments when he took on the Duchy of Cornwall after becoming Prince of Wales. His data was also released, however, among a string of royal reports.

The publication also revealed the King is getting an inflation-busting pay rise – with core funding of the monarchy ballooning to £100 million a year, almost doubling in the space of three years.

A new formula for calculating the Sovereign Grant, which pays for the royal family’s official duties and palace upkeep, will give the Royal Household £99.9 million as a core grant in 2027-28 – £48.1 million more than the core grant of £51.8 million in 2024-25.

The change was decided by Royal Trustees – outgoing British PM Keir Starmer, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, and the King’s Keeper of the Privy Purse and Treasurer James Chalmers.

Aides said the increase would help pay for a backlog in maintenance at occupied royal palaces, strengthen cyber security at royal residences, and to install energy-efficient heating. It includes £11 million alone to replace ageing boilers at Windsor Castle.

Chalmers insisted the funding was “not a blank cheque” and there were strict value-for-money requirements.

“When [he was] Prince of Wales, His Majesty disclosed his tax, and he has asked that we make public his combined income and capital gains tax payments as king,” he said.

“Today I can share with you that His Majesty’s tax payable for 2024-25 was £12.9 million.

“If annual media league tables are to be believed on such matters, that places His Majesty among the top 100 taxpayers in the country for that year.

“I can also share with you that His Majesty’s tax payable for 2023-24 was £11.7 million and the total amount of tax payable by His Majesty since accession to the throne is more than £30 million, all of this, remember, on a voluntary basis.”

William’s tax bill since becoming Prince of Wales is more than £20 million ($A38 million).

The King voluntarily pays income tax on all his private income, capital gains tax on relevant elements of his assets, and inheritance tax under arrangements agreed by the late queen that came into effect in 1993.

His private sources of income could include money from investments or trading profits, funds generated by his private estates of Balmoral and Sandringham, and private savings.

The Duchy of Lancaster estate, a portfolio of land, investments and office, retail and industrial properties, also provides the King with an annual income. In 2025-26, that was £25.2 million.

William receives an income from the Duchy of Cornwall, a billion-pound hereditary estate that includes The Oval cricket ground and provides the heir to the throne with funds, independent of the monarch.

He pays tax voluntarily on income, £21.6 million from the duchy during 2025-26, that is not used to meet official expenditure.

William and Kate have signed a long-term lease on their Windsor Estate home, Forest Lodge. It costs £307,200 a year.

-with AAP