London
CNN
—
The coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla held in May last year cost British taxpayers £72 million ($91 million), an amount some have labeled excessive.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said in its annual accounts released Thursday that it had spent just over £50 million ($63 million) to coordinate the “once-in-a-generation” event, while the Home Office spent nearly £22 million ($28 million) on its policing.
Last year’s coronation was the first in the United Kingdom since Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne in 1953.
“(The 2023 coronation) provided an occasion for the entire country to come together in celebration, and offered a unique opportunity to celebrate and strengthen our national identity and showcase the UK to the world,” the culture department said in its accounts, noting that the event reached an estimated audience of 2 billion people across 125 countries.
Royal fans often argue the monarchy offers good value to British taxpayers because it boosts tourism and consumer spending, particularly during big events.
But some people criticized the lavish affair — which included a gold carriage procession and a display of the monarchy’s jewels — as an insensitive extravagance while millions across the country were struggling financially. At the time, Britons were still in the throes of a cost-of-living crisis marked by soaring energy and grocery bills, which had started in late 2021.
“It just strikes me as unethical for the royals to spend that kind of money on a parade when children are going to school without meals,” said Graham Smith, chief executive of Republic, a group that campaigns to abolish the British monarchy.
“It was just a very big parade,” he told CNN.
The £72 million spent on the coronation could have paid for 24 million free meals for schoolchildren in London, based on the city government’s current budget of £3.00 ($3.75) per meal. The meal program is intended to alleviate financial pressures on families and to ensure children do not go hungry at school.
‘Plans were scaled back’
The Royal Family also contributed to some of the costs of the event.
About £800,000 ($1 million) came from the Sovereign Grant — which is a slice of the profits of the Crown Estate, a sprawling portfolio of properties worth about £15.5 billion ($19 billion) — according to the latest Sovereign Grant Report. The estate hands the vast bulk of its profits over to the UK government each year.
Some additional spending came from the Privy Purse, the monarch’s private source of income, a royal source told CNN.
The bulk of that income is generated from a portfolio of land, property and other assets, called the Duchy of Lancaster, worth about £648 million ($811 million), according to the duchy’s accounts for the last financial year.
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“Plans (for the coronation) were scaled back,” the royal source told CNN. “We were very aware of the need to balance the fact that it was a historic occasion and the fact that it was taking place during difficult economic times, and so efforts were made to keep costs to a minimum.”
The carriage procession was kept deliberately shorter than Queen Elizabeth II’s and fewer guests were invited to attend the main ceremony in London’s Westminster Abbey, the source noted.
The culture department, in its accounts, said it had underspent its budget on the coronation by £2.8 million ($3.5 million).
Max Foster contributed to this article.