Sophie Reaville
Naked Politics Blogger
With a crumbling NHS, a desperate housing crisis and rising numbers of homelessness, should financing the royal wedding be a top priority for our government? Many would say not.
The wedding cost a total of £32 million in total. £2 million was spent on the actual events (like the dress, venue, decoration, catering, drinks, etc.) and the remaining £30 million was spent on security. While the £2 million bill was paid by Prince Charles, the cost of security was covered by the British tax payer, a move that caused much controversy due to the ongoing social issues in Britain at the moment.
In stark contrast, in the Grenfell Tower fire disaster 72 innocent people lost their lives because their local council did not put the proper funding in place to ensure their homes were safe and habitable. Many are mortified that this country would agree to spend £30 million on security for the royals at the drop of a hat but be unwilling to ensure that people’s homes were safe. To many this shows a complete lack of care for the ordinary people in this country.
Obviously, I understand that security is vital for a family that is regularly in the public eye, however couldn’t we say the same about many celebrities? They pay for their own security.
Some might say that the royal family are entitled to this funding due to Prince Harry’s service in the armed forces and the work the royal family do for charity. But there are hundreds of men and women who serve in the armed forces and millions who donate to charity regularly that are not rewarded in the same way.
We live in a deeply divided country. While the royals have just celebrated a taxpayer funded multi-million pound wedding, 300,000 people have no home or shelter and are sleeping on the streets and 4 million children are living in poverty. In contrast to the way the royals have been treated, those sleeping rough on the streets in and around Windsor were fined if they didn’t move for the wedding like some sort of social cleansing of the streets. Quite frankly, that is disgraceful and shows an utter lack of morality and care for the vulnerable in our society.
I have wondered why there has been a sudden burst of establishment patriotism and the government’s willingness to spend so much money on it. You don’t have to be politically cynical to think that this event has helped to create a distraction from the tricky current issues we’re facing.
Overall, I would personally prefer my money to be going towards more morally just causes such as the NHS, education, social care, housing, rather than the royal wedding. Don’t get me wrong- I am extremely happy for Prince Harry and Meghan. I am happy for any loving union between two people, but we have to put things in perspective. If people do wish to put money towards the wedding then perhaps there should be a private collection, rather it being taxpayer funded. Not all of us are happy with our taxes being spent on these things.
That’s £30 million that could have helped many homeless people and that could have created more hospital beds. It could have kept 72 people alive. Whatever the levels of pageantry and patriotism involved, these facts make the taxpayer funding of this wedding immoral and unsupportable.
The royal family pays more than £30 million a year to the government out of the crown estate revenue alone (which she keeps around 15%) and personal expenses are largely paid for by the privy purse generated by the duchy of Lancaster. Plus the benefit to the economy the royals bring in tourism and the boost Kate Middleton have to the UK high fashion industry in share prices the royals more than pay for themselves; the homeless’s belongings were confiscated over night due to a bomb threat and were all returned the evening of the wedding.