How much does it cost to support the British royal family?

In its new report, the non-governmental organization Republic ("Republic") summarized not only the costs of maintaining the king and princes and princesses, but also the losses that, in its opinion, the British treasury suffers due to the fact that much land and real estate does not belong to the state, but the king

86 million pounds per year (about 115 million dollars) are now allocated directly from the budget in the form of the so-called "sovereign grant".

By law, since 2011, this amount has been calculated annually, taking into account the income of the Crown Estate, which the monarch gives to the state in exchange for an annual grant. That is, in form and essence it is the return to the royal house of a certain percentage of income from the possessions of the crown.

The Crown's holdings include numerous real estate properties in London and other cities, as well as large tracts of land. The total value of this property is about 16 billion pounds. All this is rented out and in 2023 brought in £443m of income.

The "sovereign's grant" only covers the direct costs of the maintenance and operation of the royal family and its palaces and the organization of visits and ceremonies, but does not cover, for example, the costs of security. Meanwhile, Republic estimates them at 150 million pounds.

However, the authors of the report admit that this is a "tentative estimate of probable costs."

In addition, anti-monarchists believe that the royal residences and property of the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall could be exploited on a commercial basis and bring to the budget a total of almost 200 million pounds.

These two "duchies" are not actually duchies in the traditional sense, but institutions that manage the Crown's estates, the income from which goes to support the King and the Prince of Wales.

According to Republic activists, the total expenses for the monarch should be 5-10 million pounds per year, and the king should be given a salary of 189,000 pounds. pounds per year. Anti-monarchists consider the current situation a "scandalous waste of public money."

"How can we talk about cutting winter heating allowances when we're spending half a billion pounds on the royal family?" - said Graham Smith, the head of the Republic organization.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the BBC's report.

In July, official calculations were made public, according to which the "sovereign's grant" will increase from 86.3 million pounds to 132 million pounds in the next two years. This is due to the growth of income from wind farms on the shelf.

More than half of Britain's coastline also belongs to the Crown.

Sir Michael Stephens, who manages the finances of the royal court, noted this year that the "sovereign's grant" has not increased in the last three years - and this is despite high inflation and additional costs in connection with the change of the monarch.

The royal family, as supporters of the monarchy note, brings not only expenses, but also income in the form of an additional number of tourists. But these revenues are extremely difficult to calculate.

As for public opinion, anti-monarchists from the Republic, judging by the results of polls, cannot boast of the support of the majority of their fellow citizens.

An August poll by YouGov showed that 55% of respondents think the monarchy is worth the cost. 30% hold the opposite opinion.

In general, 59% of the participants of the same survey have a positive attitude towards the institution of the monarchy, 32% have a negative attitude. 63% have a good opinion of King Charles III, 29% have a bad opinion.

Admittedly, these are averages, and across age groups the picture is more complex and probably somewhat more worrying for monarchists: British youth have a much worse attitude towards the monarchy than older generations.