The Royal Family has spent over £1 million on flights via helicopters and is set to get two new helicopters soon. The overall cost of their travel has gone up from £3.9 million to £4.2 million this year. They are making adjustments to become more environment-friendly and efficient.

The royal family has spent over £1 million on helicopter flights last year. This is because of the huge expense that has forced them to replace the older ones with two new ones. An AgustaWestland AW139, a new type of helicopter, is expected to help the royal family with their travel this year.

The total amount the royal family spent on travel last year went up to £4.2 million from £3.9 million. Added in this increase is the cost of helicopter flights, which came to £1,096,300 for 170 trips.

While the royal couple was branded a hypocrite over choppers, royal aides jumped into defense. According to them, helicopters gave flexibility to the royal family and helped them reach faraway places quickly. This helps in attending more events in a day. The royal family is working towards being more eco-friendly with the use of sustainable aviation fuel.

The two new helicopters are going to replace the older Sikorsky helicopters used in the past 15 years. In that respect, these new helicopters are quite critical to King Charles and the discharge of the Royal Family’s duties. The idea will be to make sure that the new choppers are used as much as possible to justify their cost.

One of the most expensive trips was that of King Charles and Queen Camilla to Kenya in October, which cost £166,557, including a staff planning visit by regular flights. Their three-day visit to France in September also represented a huge expense at £117,942.

Even at its cheapest, royal train travel remains the most expensive way to travel by mile. A two-day visit to North Yorkshire for an engagement by King Charles reportedly cost £53,013. However, the royal train is regarded as a safe option for overnight travel, which makes it less of a security headache.

The use of the royal train is being reviewed: King Charles used it only once last year. It will consider how often it will be needed once a more normal schedule is under way.

The state Bentleys will run on biofuel within a year as part of efforts to make the royal household more sustainable. The royal family is looking to go green by switching to electric cars sometime in the near future. Solar panels have already been put up on Windsor Castle, with more still to come. They want to install air-source heat pumps at their properties to make them more energy efficient.

Gas lamps at Buckingham Palace, that were switched off during the energy crisis, are to be replaced with new electrical fittings which will make them more energy efficient while remaining in their classic look.

Of the 523 staff members at Buckingham Palace, the number of workers from minority ethnic backgrounds is up from 9.7 percent last year to 11.4%. For the Prince and Princess of Wales’s household, there are 66 staff members out of which 67% are female and 33% are male. The number of staff members from minority ethnic backgrounds comes in at 14%, a rise from last year.