King Charles to skip Buckingham Palace home as UK heat records tumble

King Charles III will not make Buckingham Palace his personal home after its refurbishment ends next year, leaving the building as the monarchy’s ceremonial and operational centre while Britain contends with record June heat. Royal officials said the king and Queen Camilla will continue to work out of the palace, but will not move in once the long-running overhaul is complete.

The decision preserves Buckingham Palace’s role as the public face of the monarchy while ending nearly two centuries of use as a sovereign’s main London residence. Buckingham Palace has served as the official London residence of British sovereigns since 1837. The reservicing programme began in April 2017, is expected to take 10 years, and the latest reported cost is about £369 million.

The timing of the announcement sharpened attention on the royal household’s finances. Officials also released the King’s personal tax figure for 2024/25 for the first time, saying he paid £12.9 million. The disclosure came ahead of publication of the annual Sovereign Grant Report, adding another layer of scrutiny to the monarchy’s spending, income and public role at a moment when institutions across the country are under intense visibility.

At the same time, the Met Office said the UK provisionally set a new daily maximum temperature record for June on 24 June, when 36.1C was recorded at Gosport, Hampshire. That record was then broken again on 25 June, when Merryfield, Somerset, reached 36.7C. The agency issued Red Extreme Heat Warnings for Wednesday and Thursday, then extended them with a third consecutive red warning for Friday.

The Met Office said it was the first time red extreme heat warnings had been issued on three consecutive days in the UK under the current system. The warnings covered much of southern and central England and Wales, and the heat was described by the Met Office as exceptional and potentially record-breaking. For Friday’s front pages, the pairing was stark: a monarchy choosing continuity without domestic grandeur, and a country sweating through a spell severe enough to rewrite the June record twice in 48 hours.