Royal house budget to increase by 11% next year, a record since 2013
The costs for the royal house have not risen so sharply since the reign of King Willem-Alexander began in 2013. Next year, nearly 55.9 million euros will be allocated to the royal house, which is over 11 percent more than this year.
The increase is mainly due to the so-called functional costs of the king, which are set to rise by 4.5 million euros next year. The budget for the royal house service is structurally increased by 2.5 million euros "due to the significantly increased costs of ICT and information security.”
The total amount of 36.7 million euros can be used by the king for expenses that "are related to the exercise of kingship," which includes, for instance, personnel costs. The Royal Household's service involves 245 full-time equivalent positions. The court will be slightly smaller in the coming years than in previous years.
In last year's budget, the expenditures for the royal house increased by 4.1 percent compared to a year earlier, the year before that by 5.5 percent, and in 2021 by 2.9 percent.
King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima, Princess Amalia, and Princess Beatrix will have about 600,000 euros more to spend next year than this year, comprised of income and expense allowances. The government information service RVD stated that the members of the royal house follow the government's collective labour agreement in this respect.
Reporting by ANP