But he doesn't sit there like a Bond villain with £19 million sitting on his lap.
This covers all sorts of costs which are not his personal expenses and are to do with his office, and his job. Much of the increase comes from the performance of the Duchy of Cornwall, on which he pays tax, over £4 million of it.
Sigh. All this is detailed in full on his website, including the fact he has no say on where he is sent by the FO, and the fact that the Duchy has actually created jobs (surely a good thing) in the past year. He has also taken on extra staff for the royal wedding and to provide Will and Kate with a team of staff.
A friend of mine works at Ffoslas racecourse where he visited last week. He spent over five hours there, had memorised the key biographies of a huge number of staff, asked loads of questions, and was "on" for the whole visit, which will do a lot to support the racecourse which was built on a former opencast mine and has brought desperately needed jobs and investment to Wales. Most people who met him were impressed with his professionalism, courtesy, respect and enthusiasm, and the fact his visit will have helped the racecourse a lot. Multiply that by all the other stuff he does and I don't think he's selfish and greedy. Slightly bonkers, yes, but hard working within the confines of his role.