'Royal Family's bumper pay rise in cost of living crisis is a tough pill to swallow'

The royal family’s finances laid out in black and white is a sobering sight. Amid an increasingly unmanageable cost of living crisis for millions, the emergence of a bumper pay-rise for the King and his kin goes against the grain of what we are told our monarch is about. I believe Charles is a good man. His efforts in transforming the lives of thousands of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds through the Prince’s Trust, now the King’s Trust, and his attempts to rein in spending on a bloated, out-of-touch institution, should be celebrated. As Prince of Wales he published his tax payments and has followed through with his promise to do the same as King, today becoming the first monarch ever to do so. But is accepting a new eye-watering deal with the Treasury—worth £100 million a year - the result of the slimmed-down monarchy he lauded for so long? According to the latest ‘Rich List’ the King is worth £680m. These latest annual accounts show his son and heir, Prince William, now has a net worth of £1.2 billion through assets belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall. While the Sovereign Grant is essentially money given back to the royals as a percentage of total profits from the Crown Estate, the sums involved are simply staggering. The King is a man who wears suits and jackets until they are threadbare. Indeed, I remember during a visit to a mosque in London’s Brick Lane in 2023, he was pictured with a hole in his sock when politely taking his shoes off to meet worshipers. But these things just don't add up. The much maligned Royal Train, which will carry on for another year before it is finally mothballed, racked up £160,000 in charges to be used just four times. And while no one is expecting the King or Queen to claim their free bus pass, the use of helicopters 177 times at a cost of £4,000 a time seems wildly excessive. The King has worked harder than anyone in his family. The increase in his list of engagements speaks for itself. Let us not forget, this has all been while undergoing treatment for cancer for more than two years. But is a little more introspection on the issues thousands of families face needed here? The same can be said of Charles’ decision to refuse to live at Buckingham Palace, despite nearly £400m being spent on its renovation - not to mention a touch of magic being lost for countless tourists who queue outside the Palace gates every day of the year. We can applaud his disclosure of tax payments and Prince William’s commitment to sell off a fifth of Duchy property in the next 10 years to reinvest in local communities, but we are entitled to demand greater transparency as to why the royals are amassing such levels of wealth. Times are changing and the monarchy must continue to evolve. Failure to do so may jeopardise its future.