Royal Family: Expert discusses repayment of public money

Graham Smith told Express.co.uk that the UK must stop allowing the Royal Family to spend taxpayer money on their lifestyles, homes and travel expenses. Mr Smith is the CEO of Republic, an organisation which campaigns for the abolishment of the monarchy and for Queen Elizabeth II to be replaced by a democratic, elected head of state. 

The Republic CEO said: “If there was a clear abuse of public money then there would be some case for repayment but we are talking about staggeringly large amounts of money.

“I think the best thing to do is simply draw a line under it and move on.

“We need to stop allowing them to spend public money on their own lifestyles, homes and travel.

“Then we will not have this problem in the future.

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“Becoming a republic is not a punitive thing, it is a positive and optimistic thing and when that happens we should allow the royals to walk away and live their lives in private.”

Mr Smith added: “The taxpayer does not owe the Royal Family a living.

“There is no reason why the taxpayer should be paying for any of them.”

However, royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams strongly disagreed with the view put forward by Republic.

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Mr Fitzwilliams told Express.co.uk: “It’s a very curious assertion that a head of state and his or her family should receive no money from the taxpayer as is common practice.

He continued: “Also, any reasonable look at this area should stress that the taxpayer needed to pay for security and, in addition to that, for the upkeep of buildings used, for staff and for travel.

“The Civil List, dating from George 111 who handed over his income from the Crown Lands in exchange for it in 1760, lasted until 2011 and has since been replaced by the Sovereign Grant which sensibly covers these costs and, excluding security, it is estimated that the cost of the monarchy is £1.24p per person per year including the cost of refurbishment of Buckingham Palace, the core cost is just 74p per year.”

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The royal commentator added: “This excludes the benefits from the Duchy of Cornwall which pays for the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall and the Cambridges.

“Also, the Duchy of Lancaster from which the Queen pays for the other working royals.

“The taxpayer is not involved.

“There is no mention of the benefits from having the world’s most high profile monarchy as we do, in which there is such vast media interest, the revenues accrued from tourism, from royal trips abroad for British business and for charity given the 2000 engagements which, in a normal year, the royals undertake and the over 3,000 organisations which have royal links and value these greatly.”

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