Cost of UK royals back in spotlight
Queen’s year to forget revives grumbles about cost to the public
AAfter a torrid 2019 in which the queen’s son Prince Andrew was implicated in an underage sex abuse scandal, many in Britain are again asking if the monarchy has gotten too big — and rich — for its own good.
The family’s year to forget may encourage Prince Charles, set to eventually take over from his mother Queen Elizabeth II, 93, in his purported belief that the centuries-old institution needs reform, according to royal experts.
“He wants to slim it down to a hard core of senior family members who work full-time,” said author Penny Junor, who has written several books on the royals including The Firm — the nickname sometimes given to the family. “Andrew shooting himself in the foot has certainly made that an easier task,” she told AFP.
The 59-year-old prince, dubbed the queen’s “favourite son” by the UK press, has been dogged by allegations that he had sex with one of American convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s victims. Andrew, who denies the accusations, gave a calamitous BBC interview last month in which he unsuccessfully tried to distance himself from the late US financier. The furious media backlash saw him subsequently promise to “step back from public duties”.
It was a grim year as well for Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, the former US actress. The celebrity couple sued several British newspapers over intrusions into their private lives, while his relationship with brother Prince
William has reportedly soured — creating more tabloid gossip fodder. The family’s tribulations led The Guardian to proclaim the firm had “lost its grip”, with royal observers predicting change will inevitably result.
The size and cost of Britain’s royal family has long been contentious, with the latest controversies renewing calls for a “rationalised structure of Windsor plc,” as The Daily Telegraph wrote.
Jonny Dymond, who covers the royal family for the BBC, said Britain’s royals have been adept at periodically reinventing the brand, acting as a kind of “ministry of good feelings” for the nation to justify its expenses. “And that’s the problem with what you have at the moment, which is you’re certainly not getting your money’s worth,” he said.
The queen receives an allowance — a so-called “sovereign grant” — from the government each year, which reached £82 million (3.1 billion baht) for the financial year 20182019. That is intended to pay for the family members’ functional roles as figureheads, as well as the salaries of employees and maintaining places like Buckingham Palace.
The monarch also benefits from a “privy purse” which stems from the revenues of half a billion pounds in assets grown by the Duchy of Lancaster estate since the Middle Ages. The portfolio of land, properties and assets held in trust generated almost £20 million last year, which the queen partly shares across the family.