Financially speaking, the royal family has rarely had it so good. After the coronation of King Charles in the summer, the Treasury announced a whopping 45% increase in the king’s public funding from 2025, taking it from £86.3m to just under £125m.
More than enough to be getting on with, one might think, as millions struggle to get by after years of economic stagnation and now an acute cost of living crisis. But as the Guardian’s latest investigation into the cost of the crown reveals, lavish state largesse is being supplemented by the exploitation of another income stream in a manner that is unseemly, disingenuous and in urgent need of reform.
