Another week, another British Royalty controversy.
After a 2023 filled with negative press, mostly – but not entirely – due to the misadventures of Prince Andrew and Harry, the Windsor dynasty got a bad Christmas present as the staggering cost of maintaining their Royal privileges came out in the open in a big way.
Newsweek reported:
“Prince William has come under fire for the size of his ‘paycheck’ after anti-monarchy campaigners argued he has an effective $160,000 per hour salary. Republic calculated the eye-watering sum based on the number of public engagements the future king has completed so far in 2023.”
Anti-monarchy campaigners from the Republic group are sounding the alarm on that, but they are not alone: Buckingham Palace has unleashed its spin doctors to explain that all is not as it seems:
After all, the campaigners are framing all of Prince William’s income as ‘taxpayers’ money,’ which – they say – is debatable.
They also object to the use of the word ‘pay,’ as some of the revenue comes from the feudal-era property estate from the Duchy of Cornwall, ‘used to fund the public, private and charitable activities of The Duke and his immediate family.’
“Graham Smith, Republic’s chief executive, said in a statement: ‘William likes to claim he works hard, adding one issue after another to his list of missions. First he’ll tackle Middle East peace, then the environment and now homelessness. The truth is he barely works at all. It takes a deep sense of entitlement and a complete lack of serious scrutiny for William, Kate and the others to rake in multi-million pound fortunes, to enjoy the status and privileges of their positions while doing so little’.”
Prince William completed 172 royal engagements in 2023, according to an official analysis of the court circular. Each activity usually takes an hour, but often less than that.
The Prince of Wales has an annual income through the Duchy of Cornwall of £22 million (around $27.5 million). That figure represents up to £127,000 (roughly $160,000) per engagement completed by him.
It’s a situation that is impossible to defend – hence the spin at work.
Republic’s allegations that the £22 million is taxpayers’ money is countered by the fact that the Duchy was never ‘brought into public ownership’ by Parliament.
Royals view it as a ‘private estate’ that generates money to support the function of the monarchy, while the Sovereign Grant, which represents a percentage of profits from the Crown Estate – a separate property portfolio – is the source of resources that is usually referred to as the ‘monarchy’s public funding.’
The National, from Scotland, reported:
“Statistics […] show the heir to the throne carried out just 172 engagements this year, which amounts to less than one month full-time equivalent work. His wife Princess Kate did even less at just 123.
[…] King Charles now receives a similar income from state asset the Duchy of Lancaster, which means he is costing taxpayers almost £52,000 an hour.
Even Princess Anne, branded the hardest working royal of the year, only carried out the equivalent of two months’ work in 2023 with 457 engagements.”
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