Live like the royals — frugally, that is

Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, shows her frugality by shopping at IKEA and dressing her children in hand-me-downs. Photo by Ricky Wilson

By Andrea Browne Taylor
Posted on April 08, 2019

With an estimated net worth of $88 billion, the British royal family is one of the wealthiest monarchies in Europe. However, just because money is no object for them doesn’t mean they’re frivolous spenders — quite the opposite.

It has been well-documented that Queen Elizabeth II keeps a close eye on her spending, and frugality is a trait that has passed down to other members of her family.

Take a look at several of the most widely reported penny-pinching habits of the various members of the British royal family. In many ways, they’re just like the rest of us.

Prince William and Kate Middleton shop at IKEA

Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, who are parents of three small children, could easily have custom furniture made for their little ones’ rooms. Instead, they like to shop at Swedish home furnishings retailer IKEA.

During a visit to Sweden’s national museum of architecture and design ArkDes in 2018, they revealed to IKEA’s head of design Marcus Engman that they had purchased some of the brand’s furniture for two of their kids’ rooms, the Mirror reported.

Prince Charles saves leftovers

Chef and author Carolyn Robb cooked for the British royal family for more than 10 years, from 1989 to 2000, so she’s well-versed on their eating habits.

In a 2015 interview with Racked.com, Robb revealed that Prince Charles is adamant about saving leftovers for additional meals.

“The Prince was very economical and very much believed that nothing should go to waste,” she explained. “If there were leftovers, they’d be used one way or another…If we made roasted lamb and there were leftovers, we’d probably go and make Shepherd’s pie the next night.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle fly coach

You might expect an heir to the British throne to use a private jet. But in 2018, the Daily Mail reported that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle flew economy class on a British Airways flight to Nice, France, for a New Year’s vacation. According to passengers who were on the flight, the couple — casually dressed in jeans, a baseball cap and a beanie — sat at the back of the plane with three bodyguards.

In 2014, Prince William flew coach on an American Airlines connecting flight from Memphis, Tenn., to Dallas, on his way home from a friend’s wedding. He only ordered water on the short flight, the Daily Mail noted.

Queen Elizabeth II uses a space heater

Queen Elizabeth II has some thrifty habits, too. She has been photographed on several occasions using an electric space heater at Buckingham Palace to keep warm when greeting guests in the audience room, as well as in her private sitting room at her vacation castle in Scotland.

When the temps drop, rather than crank up the thermostat at her 775-room palace or her Balmoral castle, she simply plugs in a $40 space heater and sets it inside a room’s fireplace.

Yet she’s also mindful of energy use at Buckingham Palace — so much so that there’s a ban on the use of light bulbs over 40 watts, according to the Daily Express, and lights must be turned off when a room isn’t in use.

After all, when you live in a palace that spans 828,818 square feet, energy costs can quickly get out of hand if you aren’t keeping a close watch.

Kate Middleton recycles clothing

Several royals have been photographed out-and-about over the years wearing their favorite clothing and accessory items repeatedly.

The Duchess of Cambridge favors high-end brands but gets her money’s worth from them. In fact, WhoWhatWear.co.uk has deemed her “the perfect advertisement for the cost-per-wear shopping model,” which calculates the true price of a fashion item by dividing the cost by the number of times it’s been worn.

The site reports that she has been spotted at least six times since 2011 wearing a Smythe “Duchess” blazer (she wears it so much the brand renamed it after her), which retails for $695. Using the cost-per-wear model, the true cost of that blazer based on how many times she has publicly worn it is just under $110.

Prince William’s children wear hand-me-downs

Wearing your elder brother’s or sister’s old clothes is a rite of passage for many younger siblings — including the British royals.

Princess Charlotte, the daughter of Prince William and Kate Middleton, was photographed earlier this year holding her new baby brother, Prince Louis, while wearing a blue cardigan with a distinct print around the collar.

Social media fans quickly pointed out that it was the same cardigan her big brother, Prince George, wore in 2016 in an official photo for his great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday, the Huffington Post UK notes. In that same picture of Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, he’s seen wearing a cream top and pants that were also worn by his big sister.

Meghan Markle is a budget fashionista

The Duchess of Sussex’s fashion sense has taken center stage since she started dating her now-husband, Prince Harry. The American actress-turned-British-royal has been lauded for her budget-friendly style choices — including $80 Missoma gold rings she was spotted wearing via social media and a $300 J. Crew coat.

Tennis star Serena Williams recently praised Markle for sporting a $145 blazer from her Serena fashion line. (The blazer has sold out since Williams posted a picture to her Instagram account of Markle wearing the garment.)

Prince William and Kate Middleton cook

While Prince William admits he’s not the best in the kitchen, his royal highness still enjoys cooking for himself. Last year, while serving as a judge at a charity cook-off competition in London, the Prince shared with the crowd that his favorite meal to prepare at home is roast chicken and steak, according to People.com.

Even his kids like to prepare home-cooked meals with help from their mom. While making an appearance earlier this year at St. Luke’s Community Centre in London, where the Prince and Duchess helped prepare meals, Kate Middleton shared with other attendees that her children Prince George and Princess Charlotte like making pizza dough from scratch, Hello! magazine reports.

Queen Elizabeth II saves gift-wrapping paper

In the biography Young Elizabeth: The Making of Our Queen, author Kate Williams shares that the Queen has a longtime habit of collecting wrapping paper and ribbons from gifts she’s received, smoothing them out and storing them to use again, People.com reports. Just like many of us.