'SHOCKING' details around royal family funding arrangements have been laid bare in a fresh report.
Campaign group Republic has released a paper entitled A Scandal in Plain Sight which exposes the royals "dodging scrutiny, avoiding personal taxes and falling short of standards required of other public bodies".
The research shows that official royal funding has increased by 565% in real terms since the late Queen Elizabeth came to the throne.
While legislation is currently going through UK Parliament to increase the core Sovereign Grant from £50 million to £100m a year, the report claims the grant obscures the true half a billion pound cost of the monarchy.
It also questions "murky or ill-defined" details on funding, challenges MPs to increase scrutiny of royal finances and questions why the royals get so many "unique privileges" in public funding.
Republic's CEO Graham Smith said: "At a time when UK public bodies are being challenged to do more with less, the royal household is doing less with more.
"People who are struggling financially are often told to ask three questions before spending money: Do I need it? Can I afford it? Can I get it cheaper elsewhere?
"The monarchy fails all three tests. We don’t need it, we can’t afford it and there are cheaper and better alternatives.
"How can it be right that when a lower paid worker travels from home to work the expense is deemed to be a private expense but when the royals travel from one home to another home it is deemed to be official and eligible for public funding?
"People in a position of power and privilege should be subject to more scrutiny than others, not less. You can have deference or you can have accountability but you can’t have both."
On Monday, MPs unanimously authorised £99.9m for 2027/28 to maintain royal palaces and fund official duties.
The Sovereign Grant Bill amends current legislation to scrap measures preventing funding from falling from one year to the next.
Smith criticised "the lack of serious scrutiny", calling it "disgraceful".
"It's time MPs upped their game and took these issues seriously," he said.
Scottish Labour MP Brian Leishman, however, voiced opposition to the spending at a time when "millions of people" are experiencing "intense suffering".
The report claims to identify four methods the royals use to avoid serious scrutiny and meaningful accountability: concealment of documents and records, censorship of the media and MPs, confusion of the public and circumvention of accountability mechanisms.
The report from Republic details how royal inflation has run at an average of 7.5% a year for the 12 years from the start of the Sovereign Grant through to 2024/25. Regular inflation for the same period was just 2.8% per year on average.
Crown Estate profits are used as a benchmark for increases to the grant, which is funded by the UK Government. As the Crown Estate profits continue to grow thanks largely to offshore wind farms, as does the grant.
"The total cost of the monarchy now exceeds £500m a year and it is expected to continue to grow in real terms despite the serious financial challenges the country now faces," the report states.
It goes on to say increases in funding "do not stand up to any kind of scrutiny", with cybersecurity given as a reason for the hike.
"The Royal Household is not the only public body to face a heightened risk of cyber-attack. This is also an issue for NHS trusts and the military and in fact the wider public sector," it says.
"Similarly, the amount of maintenance work needed is given as a reason but many other public bodies have challenges with maintenance of older buildings including prisons, social housing, hospitals and schools.
"The challenges that supporters of the royals reference are not unique in the public sector but what is unique are the monarchy’s funding arrangements which are by far the most generous settlement in the entire public sector."
The full report can be seen here.
