A Right Royal Accounting

This is a slightly angry post, and not the usual sort of thing found on this blog. I apologise in advance if it upsets anyone, but there you are…

I have just seen the BBC News. They report that the financial accounts for the Royal Family have been published. Palace figures show that it cost the taxpayer around £36 million to have a Royal Family last year. This figure will have to rise to over £40 million next year, to take into account refurbishments at Buckingham Palace, and other royal residences. The palace asserts that this means a cost of around 1p a day for each person in the British Isles. This despite public knowledge that The Queen is one of the richest individuals in the UK.

Republican groups have been quick to counter these figures, as they do not include the considerable costs of providing security for the assorted royals, and their ever-growing tribe of hangers-on. The alternative cost is estimated to be closer to £300 million, if everything is taken into account. This means that I pay either 1p a day, or about 10p a day, depending on who you believe. Whatever the true figure, I would like my money back please. I don’t see why I should have to pay for the upkeep of an organisation that I want no part of. After all, I wouldn’t be expected to pay for say, a gym membership, if I never asked to belong to one.

The report also told us that £4 million was spent on refurbishing the substantial apartments in Kensington Palace, to provide a London home for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (an assumed name by the way). They were quick to add that the couple paid for their own domestic furniture, and for new kitchen units. This palatial residence was described as ‘a normal home, but with larger rooms’. If they wanted to live like a normal couple in London, why didn’t they just rent a flat on a local estate?

An old saying springs to mind. Please forgive the crude expression, but I consider it fitting.

‘Don’t piss in my face and tell me that it’s raining.’