The publication, on Thursday, November 21, of the official figures for the coronation of Charles III in May 2023 is causing shivers in the United Kingdom. The coronation cost British taxpayers 72 million pounds (about 86.5 million euros), according to a report from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
And if without its report, the ministry evokes a coronation “enjoyed by millions of people, in the United Kingdom and around the world”, a “once in a generation moment” that “offered a unique opportunity to celebrate and strengthen our nation.” identity”, anti-monarchist movements criticize these expenses.
“An obscene waste”
For the Republican movement, which fights to replace the monarchy with a more democratic political system, the coronation is an “obscene” waste of taxpayers’ money, reports The Guardian.
The country is trapped in a post-pandemic crisis, with inflation at its highest level in decades for most of the past year, while a lack of economic growth has led to falling living standards.
Skeptics also point out that the British monarch, who receives more public money than his European counterparts, is a billionaire capable of paying most of the institution’s bills.
The royal family is ‘ripping off the public’
According to a YouGov poll conducted before the coronation, more than half of Britons thought the government should not fund the ceremony.
For Graham Smith, president of the Republic association, interviewed by The Guardian, “it was an extravagance that we simply did not need. It was completely unnecessary and a waste of money in the middle of a cost of living crisis in a country that faces enormous poverty. childish.
“When children can’t afford school meals, spending more than £70m on this parade is obscene.”
Anti-monarchy activists demonstrate periodically during Charles III’s travels, brandishing bright yellow signs with the words “Not My King.”
This report also comes after the revelations in the “Duchary Files”, about the income of Charles and his son William from their dukedoms of Lancaster and Cornwall. Both earn millions of pounds each year by renting out their properties located in these two duchies to public establishments (hospitals, prisons, schools), while benefiting from significant tax exemptions.
For Norman Baker, a former MP for the centrist Liberal Democrat Party and a long-time critic of the royal family, this confirms that it is “ripping off the public.”
“This is Crown land that belongs to the public (…) All this money should go to the crown estate“, heritage of the Crown, whose income is returned to the Public Treasury since a legal act dating back to 1760, was indignant to the AFP.
Source: BFM TV
