Latest news with #RoyalHousehold
Sky News AU
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Harry and Meghan slammed for ‘hypocrisy' after mimicking royal court
Sky News host Rita Panahi says Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been accused of 'hypocrisy' after they restructured their staff, creating what has been labelled the Montecito 'royal court'. Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams argued the couple had built a similar structure to that of the Royal Household, despite recently attacking royal systems. Ms Panahi sat down with 'To Di For' podcast host Kinsey Schofield to discuss the latest move by the Sussexes.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why King Charles Is Reportedly 'Frustrated and Upset' by Prince Harry's Security Appeal
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Following news on Friday, May 2, that Prince Harry had officially lost an appeal to reinstate his taxpayer-funded security in the U.K., according to an announcement from a judge, a BBC interview in which the royal candidly discussed his feelings about the case quickly went viral among royal fans. In the interview, the Duke of Sussex discussed the state of his relationship with the rest of the royal family amid his recent loss in the legal battle he's been fighting to regain police protection for himself and his family when they visit Britain (the Sussexes lost that benefit after they stepped down as senior royals in 2020 and moved to California). "I can't see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the UK at this point," Harry said of the impact the court ruling will have on his family going forward, adding that, while he's had "so many disagreements" with some members of his family, he has since "forgiven" them. "I would love reconciliation with my family. There's no point continuing to fight any more, life is precious." Harry added that the ongoing dispute over his security had "always been the sticking point" and admitted that he felt "let down," describing the outcome of the case as a "good old fashioned establishment stitch up" and, according to the BBC's article about the interview with Harry, "blamed the Royal Household for influencing the decision to reduce his security." He insisted, however, that he never asked his father, King Charles, to get involved in the legal battle, saying, "I never asked him to intervene—I asked him to step out of the way and let the experts do their jobs." According to a report from The Sun, however, members of the King's inner circle don't seem to see the situation the same way. One insider told the outlet that Charles was "frustrated and upset" about Harry's appeal for security "and the burden he had put on taxpayers" in the process. The source, described as a friend of the monarch, told The Sun that it would have been 'constitutionally improper' for Charles to intervene in the court case. 'What has frustrated and upset him on a more personal level is the Duke's failure to respect this principle," the royal source explained. "And for his supporters to suggest that somehow his father doesn't care about his family, or should step in. He's been particularly concerned that it has taken considerable resources and cost for the Government to defend their position.'
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Public funding for royals triples since 2012 because of Palace works
Public funding for the Royal Household has tripled in real terms since 2012, official figures show, with the rise driven largely by repairs and building work at Buckingham Palace. The Sovereign Grant, which provides taxpayer support for the monarchy, was introduced in 2012 at £31m per year. That has now risen to £132m, data from the House of Commons Library shows, and once inflation has been taken into account, that represents about a threefold increase. The grant rose 53% in April, from £86.3m to £132.1m. Royal aides say this was because of a Buckingham Palace building project and the grant will come down again, adding that the monarchy represents good value. Lord Turnbull, a crossbench peer and a former Cabinet Secretary, called the way the grant was calculated "complete and utter nonsense" but said that the budget isn't high compared with other presidential heads of state. The Sovereign Grant provides funding for the official duties of the monarchy. In the most recent figures, for 2023-24, the biggest items were property maintenance and staff payroll, with smaller amounts for travel and hospitality and housekeeping. The analysis by the House of Commons Library shows how much the Sovereign Grant has risen over time - using a measure that takes into account inflation, with comparisons using 2023-24 values as a benchmark. Using that measure, the Sovereign Grant in 2012-13 was worth £41.5m – which rose to almost £100m in 2018-19, to cover renovations in Buckingham Palace, and then rose in 2025-26 to being worth £129.3m, again for work on Buckingham Palace. A Bank of England inflation calculation also shows the grant's value having trebled since 2012, although Buckingham Palace uses a separate figure which is slightly below a threefold real-terms increase. Buckingham Palace says the current figures are higher because of a 10-year, £369m project to modernise facilities in the Palace, including cabling, plumbing, wiring and lifts. It's a project that the National Audit Office says has been well-run and delivers "good value for money". The Palace says it's misleading to compare this year's figures with earlier levels of grants. They say the big increase is due to the element of the grant that pays for Buckingham Palace building works, rather than the "core" grant for other running costs. "The Sovereign Grant remained virtually flat for five years from 2020, during a period of high inflation. The majority of the increase in this year's Sovereign Grant is to fund the Buckingham Palace Reservicing Programme, which is ensuring that the Palace, a national asset, is accessible and protected from fire and flood," said a Palace spokesperson. "A temporary increase in the grant across two years was approved to provide the remainder of the funding agreed in 2016 for this reservicing work. It has always been anticipated that the level of the Sovereign Grant will drop once the project is completed," said the spokesperson. This could mean taxpayer funding reducing after 2027. The sharp increase over the past decade has been during difficult years for public finances, including periods of austerity and tight controls over budgets. For example, a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies showed that public spending on education in England went down by 11% in real terms between 2010-11 and 2023-24, although the IFS says that it is difficult to compare such big multi-billion budgets with changes in relatively smaller amounts such as the Sovereign Grant. Before the Sovereign Grant was introduced, state funding for the monarchy came through a mix of grants, government department spending and a "civil list" payment. Figures from the House of Commons Library, going back to 1995, show the pre-Sovereign Grant totals as lower than than they are today - for instance, using 2023-24 values, it was worth £67m in 2000 and £56m in 2005. What does King Charles do? King sends heartfelt message to fellow cancer patients The Sovereign Grant was introduced as a more "modern, transparent" way of bringing together royal funding, presented to MPs in 2011 as being likely to reduce the royal income. The grant is based on a percentage of the profits of the independent property and landowning business, the Crown Estate. The grant is not from the Crown Estate, it comes from the Treasury, but the Crown Estate is used as a benchmark. Sovereign Grant was initially set at 15% of Crown Estate profits, which rose to 25% to cover the cost of renovating Buckingham Palace. It's now being reduced to 12%. But because of increased profits for the Crown Estate from selling leases for offshore wind farms, the actual cash amount has risen sharply, because it's a percentage based on a much bigger total. The increase in the Sovereign Grant's value is blamed by former Lib Dem Home Office minister Norman Baker, a prominent critic of royal finances, on what he calls the "completely absurd" way it's calculated and "weak-kneed" governments that don't want to challenge it. "The Royal Family has been very efficient in persuading the public purse to keep coughing up more money," he says. "Buckingham Palace has been used again and again to justify the increases. "We're told public finances are tight, we can't afford a winter fuel allowance, but we can pay for an increase for the Royal Family. It's completely wrong." Lord Turnbull, a former Cabinet Secretary and Permanent Secretary at the Treasury in the 1990s and 2000s, is also critical of the way the grant is calculated. He says successive governments have used the Crown Estate calculation as a convenient way of avoiding debate and stopping a "lot of bolshy backbenchers moaning about the cost of the monarchy". He says it would be much better to have a straightforward grant to pay for the monarchy, which could be debated on its own merits. But he also says it's a "red herring" to focus on the headline increase in the Sovereign Grant, when that figure has been driven by work to preserve Buckingham Palace, rather than underlying running costs. He says that if you have a monarchy it has to be properly funded. "You either have one or you don't," says Lord Turnbull. Pauline Maclaran, a royal commentator from Royal Holloway, University of London, says the monarchy "generates a great deal of money and goodwill." This is often seen in terms of boosting tourism and promoting business links, but Prof Maclaran says increasingly it needs to recognise the impact of royal "soft power". US President Trump is a self-professed fan of King Charles and if those warm feelings helped with UK and US trade and tariff negotiations the benefits would hugely outweigh any annual costs of the monarchy, says Prof Maclaran. But the royals can't be immune to questions about finances, she says: "The public wants to know if they're of value." Royal expert Richard Palmer says this year's increase has "raised eyebrows". "Of course the head of state and those who support him need to be funded properly, but so do other parts of the state - the health service, schools, the military, for example," says Mr Palmer. Royal sources say there is transparency and funding is subject to the approval of Parliament. The Royal Trustees overseeing the grant are the prime minister, chancellor and the keeper of the privy purse, who looks after the monarch's finances. You can dig into the accounts and see from 2023-24 that the royals spent over £1m on helicopter flights, there was an electricity bill of £2.2m and that travel for the Duke of Kent over three days to attend regimental events in Scotland cost more than £23,000. There are also details of what the monarchy provides in a year – including hosting 400 events, inviting 105,000 guests to receptions, garden parties and official lunches. There were also 2,300 public engagements, supporting charities and good causes. There are national and international events, including state visits which help to promote UK trade. There's a constitutional role, such as the state opening of Parliament and regular meetings with the prime minister. Republic, a group campaigning for an elected head of state, have argued that other costs need to be included, such as security, which is not covered by the Sovereign Grant. They also want the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall to count as public funding, rather than private incomes for the King and Prince of Wales. A report from the group claims that the total cost of the monarchy is about £510m per year. Opinion polls suggest the monarchy remains popular, with a YouGov survey in February 2025 suggesting 55% viewed the monarchy positively compared with 36% who saw it negatively. But there is less certainty about funding. Another YouGov survey in December 2024 suggested strong public opposition to government money being spent on Buckingham Palace – by 56% to 29%. And there are divisions by age groups – with 74% of the over-65s thinking the royals are good value for money, compared with 44% of 25 to 49 year olds. Harry and Meghan call for stronger social media protections for children Princess Charlotte photo released to mark 10th birthday King and Queen to host VE Day tea party for war veterans Sign up here to get the latest royal stories and analysis every week with our Royal Watch newsletter. Those outside the UK can sign up here.
BBC News
11-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
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Public funding for the Royal Household has tripled in real terms since 2012, official figures show, with the rise driven largely by repairs and building work at Buckingham Sovereign Grant, which provides taxpayer support for the monarchy, was introduced in 2012 at £31m per year. That has now risen to £132m, data from the House of Commons Library shows, and once inflation has been taken into account, that represents about a threefold grant rose 53% in April, from £86.3m to £132.1m. Royal aides say this was because of a Buckingham Palace building project and the grant will come down again, adding that the monarchy represents good value. Lord Turnbull, a crossbench peer and a former Cabinet Secretary, called the way the grant was calculated "complete and utter nonsense" but said that the budget isn't high compared with other presidential heads of Sovereign Grant provides funding for the official duties of the monarchy. In the most recent figures, for 2023-24, the biggest items were property maintenance and staff payroll, with smaller amounts for travel and hospitality and analysis by the House of Commons Library shows how much the Sovereign Grant has risen over time - using a measure that takes into account inflation, with comparisons using 2023-24 values as a that measure, the Sovereign Grant in 2012-13 was worth £41.5m – which rose to almost £100m in 2018-19, to cover renovations in Buckingham Palace, and then rose in 2025-26 to being worth £129.3m, again for work on Buckingham Palace.A Bank of England inflation calculation also shows the grant's value having trebled since 2012, although Buckingham Palace uses a separate figure which is slightly below a threefold real-terms increase. Buckingham Palace says the current figures are higher because of a 10-year, £369m project to modernise facilities in the Palace, including cabling, plumbing, wiring and lifts. It's a project that the National Audit Office says has been well-run and delivers "good value for money".The Palace says it's misleading to compare this year's figures with earlier levels of grants. They say the big increase is due to the element of the grant that pays for Buckingham Palace building works, rather than the "core" grant for other running costs."The Sovereign Grant remained virtually flat for five years from 2020, during a period of high inflation. The majority of the increase in this year's Sovereign Grant is to fund the Buckingham Palace Reservicing Programme, which is ensuring that the Palace, a national asset, is accessible and protected from fire and flood," said a Palace spokesperson. "A temporary increase in the grant across two years was approved to provide the remainder of the funding agreed in 2016 for this reservicing work. It has always been anticipated that the level of the Sovereign Grant will drop once the project is completed," said the could mean taxpayer funding reducing after 2027. The sharp increase over the past decade has been during difficult years for public finances, including periods of austerity and tight controls over example, a report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies showed that public spending on education in England went down by 11% in real terms between 2010-11 and 2023-24, although the IFS says that it is difficult to compare such big multi-billion budgets with changes in relatively smaller amounts such as the Sovereign the Sovereign Grant was introduced, state funding for the monarchy came through a mix of grants, government department spending and a "civil list" from the House of Commons Library, going back to 1995, show the pre-Sovereign Grant totals as lower than than they are today - for instance, using 2023-24 values, it was worth £67m in 2000 and £56m in 2005. The Sovereign Grant was introduced as a more "modern, transparent" way of bringing together royal funding, presented to MPs in 2011 as being likely to reduce the royal grant is based on a percentage of the profits of the independent property and landowning business, the Crown Estate. The grant is not from the Crown Estate, it comes from the Treasury, but the Crown Estate is used as a Grant was initially set at 15% of Crown Estate profits, which rose to 25% to cover the cost of renovating Buckingham now being reduced to 12%. But because of increased profits for the Crown Estate from selling leases for offshore wind farms, the actual cash amount has risen sharply, because it's a percentage based on a much bigger increase in the Sovereign Grant's value is blamed by former Lib Dem Home Office minister Norman Baker, a prominent critic of royal finances, on what he calls the "completely absurd" way it's calculated and "weak-kneed" governments that don't want to challenge it."The Royal Family has been very efficient in persuading the public purse to keep coughing up more money," he says."Buckingham Palace has been used again and again to justify the increases."We're told public finances are tight, we can't afford a winter fuel allowance, but we can pay for an increase for the Royal Family. It's completely wrong." Lord Turnbull, a former Cabinet Secretary and Permanent Secretary at the Treasury in the 1990s and 2000s, is also critical of the way the grant is calculated. He says successive governments have used the Crown Estate calculation as a convenient way of avoiding debate and stopping a "lot of bolshy backbenchers moaning about the cost of the monarchy".He says it would be much better to have a straightforward grant to pay for the monarchy, which could be debated on its own he also says it's a "red herring" to focus on the headline increase in the Sovereign Grant, when that figure has been driven by work to preserve Buckingham Palace, rather than underlying running costs. He says that if you have a monarchy it has to be properly funded. "You either have one or you don't," says Lord Maclaran, a royal commentator from Royal Holloway, University of London, says the monarchy "generates a great deal of money and goodwill."This is often seen in terms of boosting tourism and promoting business links, but Prof Maclaran says increasingly it needs to recognise the impact of royal "soft power".US President Trump is a self-professed fan of King Charles and if those warm feelings helped with UK and US trade and tariff negotiations the benefits would hugely outweigh any annual costs of the monarchy, says Prof Maclaran. But the royals can't be immune to questions about finances, she says: "The public wants to know if they're of value."Royal expert Richard Palmer says this year's increase has "raised eyebrows"."Of course the head of state and those who support him need to be funded properly, but so do other parts of the state - the health service, schools, the military, for example," says Mr sources say there is transparency and funding is subject to the approval of Parliament. The Royal Trustees overseeing the grant are the prime minister, chancellor and the keeper of the privy purse, who looks after the monarch's can dig into the accounts and see from 2023-24 that the royals spent over £1m on helicopter flights, there was an electricity bill of £2.2m and that travel for the Duke of Kent over three days to attend regimental events in Scotland cost more than £23, are also details of what the monarchy provides in a year – including hosting 400 events, inviting 105,000 guests to receptions, garden parties and official lunches. There were also 2,300 public engagements, supporting charities and good are national and international events, including state visits which help to promote UK trade. There's a constitutional role, such as the state opening of Parliament and regular meetings with the prime a group campaigning for an elected head of state, have argued that other costs need to be included, such as security, which is not covered by the Sovereign also want the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall to count as public funding, rather than private incomes for the King and Prince of Wales. A report from the group claims that the total cost of the monarchy is about £510m per polls suggest the monarchy remains popular, with a YouGov survey in February 2025 suggesting 55% viewed the monarchy positively compared with 36% who saw it there is less certainty about funding. Another YouGov survey in December 2024 suggested strong public opposition to government money being spent on Buckingham Palace – by 56% to 29%.And there are divisions by age groups – with 74% of the over-65s thinking the royals are good value for money, compared with 44% of 25 to 49 year olds. Sign up here to get the latest royal stories and analysis every week with our Royal Watch newsletter. Those outside the UK can sign up here.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Shortlisted designs for Queen Elizabeth II's official London memorial unveiled
A pair of gently curved bridges, a bronze oak tree and a lily pad-inspired walkway are among the standout features of five shortlisted designs for Queen Elizabeth II's official memorial site in central London. The national memorial will be built in St. James's Park, near Buckingham Palace in the heart of the British capital. The finalists, unveiled Wednesday, include some of the UK's most prominent architecture firms, including Foster + Partners, which designed London's City Hall and 30 St. Mary Axe (known as The Gherkin), and Heatherwick Studios, the firm behind New York City's Vessel structure. A panel from The Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee, which was jointly established by the British government and Royal Household, will announce a winning proposal this summer, according to a press release. The memorial is expected to be unveiled in 2026, marking what would have been the late Queen's centenary. The design brief asked for 'an emotionally powerful place' that celebrates Elizabeth II's 'extraordinary life of service,' while providing the public with a space for reflection. 'She was part of our national identity and helped to define our values, she gave us a sense of continuity through times of great change, she was integral to recognizing achievement and she exemplified service and duty, strengthened by faith and leavened by pragmatism, optimism and humor,' said committee chair Lord Janvrin, the late Queen's former private secretary, in the press release. 'The masterplan design needs to seek inspiration from all this,' he added. 'The memorial must be — simply — a beautiful place, a place to visit with friends, a place to gather, to enjoy, and to reflect on an extraordinary life.' The public can view the finalists' designs as part of an online exhibition and can provide feedback until May 19. To honor Britain's longest-reigning monarch, Heatherwick Studio proposed an entry with a lily-themed bridge at its heart (pictured top). In a video introducing the design, the firm's founder Thomas Heatherwick said Elizabeth II's values of 'togetherness and unity' led his team to conceptualize a 'Bridge of Togetherness' that would serve as a gathering place in the park. The design features a sculpture of the late monarch protected by a canopy of 'sculptural lilies' at the center of a limestone bridge. The proposal also includes a pathway of 70 limestone 'lily pads' signifying the Queen's 70-year reign, as well as plants that held significance for her. 'Like her legacy, it is quietly monumental,' reads the firm's entry. 'A memorial grown from the landscape, open to people throughout the world from every walk of life.' Another design looking to themes of harmony was proposed by Foster + Partners, which was inspired by British architect John Nash's 1820s remodeling of St. James's Park. The design consists of gardens connected by a network of meandering paths and linked by a 'Unity Bridge' symbolizing the Queen as 'a powerful force for bringing together people, nations, charities, the Commonwealth, and the Armed Forces,' the firm's founder, architect Norman Foster, said in a video entry. The pathways will feature Elizabeth II's words, both as audio installations and inscriptions on the path, including a quote from her 1953 coronation speech: 'Throughout all my life and with all my heart I shall strive to be worthy of your trust.' Proposed sculptures include new figurative statues of the Queen and Prince Philip, as well as a 'Wind Sculpture' designed by the British artist Yinka Shonibare, intended to serve as a place of 'reflection and shared experience.' The proposal from landscape architecture studio J&L Gibbons centers on a vision of the late Queen as 'the nation's bedrock' by incorporating a bridge made of literal bedrock. Its layout also 'invites forest bathing' in a series of glades surrounded by trees. In its proposal video, the firm said its design represents a quote from the Queen's 1966 Christmas broadcast, in which she spoke to breathing 'gentleness and care into the harsh progress of mankind.' Also borrowing from nature is landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith, whose proposal incorporates a replica of a centuries-old oak tree from Windsor Great Park, once the private hunting grounds of the late Queen's former residence, Windsor Castle. Stuart-Smith's team would digitally scan the tree before casting it as a full-size bronze sculpture. Called 'The Queen's Oak' and situated beside a gently curved bridge, the sculpture would be the centerpiece of the site, its lacquered leaves appearing like a 'golden mirage reflected in the lake' at night, according to the firm's entry. Other features include bronze casts of flowers from various Commonwealth countries, as well as a 'sonic soundscape' playing recorded memories from people whose lives were impacted by Elizabeth II. To create a contemplative experience, architecture firm WilkinsonEyre, which recently restored London's Battersea Power Station, proposed pathways with 'threads' symbolizing the Queen's life. Visitors can follow each of the threads, which are built around seven themes, including family, nature and the Commonwealth, representing her seven decades of service. A pair of bridges, set on two different levels, would give visitors views of the park, royal palaces and the London skyline.
