King Charles‘s move to turn down the heating at Buckingham Palace has reportedly rung alarm bells in the art world. Thermostats were set at 19C at the palace and other royal homes over the winter in a bid to cut emissions.

The temperature is two degrees below the recommended level for paintings such as Rembrandt’s The Shipbuilder and his Wife, which was a favourite of the late Queen‘s.

Curators have calculateed that 21-24C is the optimum temperature for keeping paintings in their best condition, with damage likely if temperatures are kept too high or too cold, according to Daily Mail diarist Ephraim Hardcastle.

The writer asked: “Surely the Surveyor of the King’s Pictures would know that? Alas, that post was axed in 2020.”

Sovereign Grant accounts published this week highlight a number of royal sustainability efforts, including: “A concerted effort to reduce occupied room set points to 19C during the winter, as well as educate staff to turn down the temperature in vacant rooms to 16C and be more aware of the potential for reducing heat loss.”

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Charles spoke extensively before becoming king about the importance of the environment, tackling climate change and protecting wildlife.

He even recycled his bathwater at Clarence House and runs his Aston Martin on sustainable fuel.

The Sovereign Grant accounts show Charles has started his reign with royal expenditure, which is funded by the taxpayer, rising for the second year in a row.

Net expenditure increased by £5.1million, or five percent, to £107.5m for 2022-23.

Royal aides said this was due to the change of monarchs, inflation and the continued costs of updating the plumbing, wiring and heating at Buckingham Palace.

The Sovereign Grant remained unchanged at £86.3m during 2022/23.

A core element of £51.8m funds the King’s official duties and his household, equivalent to 77p per person in the UK.

An extra £34.5m pays for ongoing reservicing costs for the palace.

The accounts show the royal household has failed again to meet its diversity target of drawing 10 percent of its workforce from ethnic minorities, with the 2023 figure of 9.7 percent remaining the same as last year.

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Payroll costs proved to be one of the biggest annual increases in expenditure during 2022-23, rising £3.4m to 27.1m, with staff given a pay rise of about five to six percent.

The workforce increased to pre-pandemic levels as royal activities picked up after the Covid lockdowns.

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, have also vacated Frogmore Cottage, a Buckingham Palace spokesman confirmed.

He would not speculate on the next tenant, with reports claiming Prince Andrew is resisting a move from his Royal Lodge home.

Sir Michael Stevens, Keeper of the Privy Purse, said the past 12 months had been “a year of grief, change and celebration” the like of which the nation “has not witnessed for seven decades”.

He added: “These past 12 months have taken us from the Platinum Jubilee in the summer of last year, to the sadness of the death of Queen Elizabeth and the accession of our new sovereign in the autumn, via an incoming and outgoing state visit and many months of work in preparation for the coronation of their majesties King Charles and Queen Camilla in the spring of this year.”

A palace spokesman said “His majesty has obviously supported the strategic direction of the royal households in its attempts to achieve net zero.”

He added: “In the short term though, it is all about reducing our emissions where we can control our emissions and in adjusting room temperatures, whether that’s during the working week or whether that’s a limiting of the effect of heating on weekends.

“Or whether it’s turning off the gas lamps where it’s safe to do so, as a precursor to changing them over to electric operation, or indeed if it’s the case of turning the heating off on the swimming pool – these are all areas which are about the steps that we can take to reduce our emissions.”

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