British taxpayers payed more last year to foot Charles's bills

The accounts for Clarence House showed the Prince of Wales's funding from grants-in-aid and government departments rose from 1,962,000 pounds in 2010-2011 to 2,194,000 pounds, up by 11.8 per cent.

The cost of travel by air and rail for the prince and the Duchess of Cornwall to attend official engagements was 1,318,000 pounds up from 1.08m pounds, BBC reported.

The prince's private income from the Duchy of Cornwall rose by 3 per cent to 18.3m pounds. After deducting business expenditure the prince paid 4,496,000 pounds in tax at the 50 per cent rate.

Of 9.38m pounds spent on official and charitable duties, 6.7m pounds - or 68 per cent - went on staff costs.

The figures are contained in the Annual Review 2012, which covers the activities of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall as well as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

The accounts show that Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall travelled nearly 77,248-km to official engagements in Britain and abroad.

The countries they visited included South Africa and Tanzania, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The prince also travelled to Kuwait, the US, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. They also visited 86 towns and cities in Britain.

Prince Charles's contribution to Prince William's wedding to Kate Middleton is not itemised in the report, but forms part of non-official expenditure totalling 2,609,000 pounds.

The annual report said the prince and duchess helped raise, directly or indirectly, 131m pounds for charity.

It said Prince Charles's 16 charities "represent, as a group, the largest multi-cause charitable enterprise in the UK".