Wednesday, October 29, 2025
  • Who’sWho Africa AWARDS
  • About TimeAfrica Magazine
  • Contact Us
Time Africa Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • World News
    • US
    • UAE
    • Europe
    • UK
    • Israel-Hamas
    • Russia-Ukraine
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Column
  • Interviews
  • Special Report
No Result
View All Result
Time Africa Magazine
  • Home
  • Magazine
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • World News
    • US
    • UAE
    • Europe
    • UK
    • Israel-Hamas
    • Russia-Ukraine
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Column
  • Interviews
  • Special Report
No Result
View All Result
Time Africa Magazine
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
  • News
  • Magazine
  • World News

Home » World News » Here’s What We Know About the Vast Cost of King Charles III’s Coronation

Here’s What We Know About the Vast Cost of King Charles III’s Coronation

April 30, 2023
in World News
0
544
SHARES
4.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

ReadAlso

Britain’s first transgender judge drags UK to court over ruling on biological sex

Prince Harry’s bombshell interview about his father, royal family and security row in full



Britain is still reeling from a cost-of-living crisis, though you wouldn’t necessarily know it from its plans for King Charles III’s upcoming May 6 coronation. The country is pulling out all the stops for the crowning of its sovereign—a three-day jamboree that will feature nationwide street parties, a Windsor concert, and a symbolic ceremony at Westminster Abbey followed by a grand public procession. It’ll be a party fit for a king, with a price tag to match: The long weekend is expected to cost British taxpayers at least £100 million ($125 million).

Unlike the last coronation, which was held in 1953 for the late Queen Elizabeth II, this one—codenamed Operation Golden Orb—will be a more scaled-back affair, with a shorter duration and fewer attendees. It’s a decision that has been explained in part by King Charles’s sensitivity to the cost-of-living crisis afflicting the country, as well as his ambition to have a more modern, slimmed down monarchy (an aim that was partially achieved with the departures of Prince Harry, Meghan the Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Andrew from the coterie of working royals, of which there are now 11). Still, the opulence of such a spectacle stands to run in stark contrast with the bleak backdrop that is Britain’s economic crisis, in which decades-high inflation has led to crippling labor strikes. Hundreds of thousands of British workers, among them doctors, teachers, and train drivers, have walked out of work in demand of better pay in recent months. Further strikes by traffic wardens and Heathrow Airport workers stand to cast a shadow on the coronation celebrations.

Neither Downing Street nor Buckingham Palace will confirm the exact cost of the coronation, though British media outlets have thrown the £100 million figure around as speculation, a sum roughly double the cost of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. The 1953 event was the most expensive ceremony ever held by the monarchy at the time, according to the New York Times, costing £1.57 million or the modern equivalent of £56 million. The higher price tag this time around is attributed at least in part to security, which would not have been as big of a concern decades ago.

Graham Smith, the chief executive of the anti-monarchy group Republic and the author of the forthcoming book Abolish the Monarchy, suspects that the £100 million estimate is conservative.

“I suspect it’ll be at least that,” he tells TIME during a press briefing. “It’s an inordinate amount of money for the taxpayer to be spending. We know that there are lots of public sector workers who are struggling to get a pay rise. We know that there are people in work who are having to use food banks. There are hospitals struggling to make ends meet, schools struggling to get resources for their kids, police services struggling to keep the lid on various types of crime.”

Graham concedes that £100 million isn’t a sum that will necessarily go very far if directed toward the National Health Service or the police. “But it’s going to do quite a lot of good for a lot of people if it was spent on public services, homelessness, poverty, and so on [rather than] to spend it on one parade for one man.”

Some British government ministers have bristled at the notion of scaling back the coronation, with the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Dowden noting that “people would not want dour scrimping and scraping” on what will be a historic moment for the nation. After all, past coronations haven’t always occurred at convenient times. The 1937 coronation of King Charles’s grandfather, King George VI, took place amid an economic recession just two years before the start of World War II. By the time Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953, post-war rationing was still in place. “I don’t think, in retrospect, people cared what it cost simply because it was a vast success and a huge spectacle,” says Richard Fitzwilliams, a longtime royal expert.

But this history is unlikely to be of much comfort for many Britons. More than half of them believe that the coronation shouldn’t be funded by the government, according to a recent survey by YouGov, compared to just 32% who said it should be. Some have even questioned why the royal family won’t just foot the bill itself. A recent investigation by the Guardian puts King Charles’s personal fortune at an estimated £1.8 billion, though the full picture of the monarchy’s finances remains largely opaque.

Bob Morris, an honorary senior research associate at the Constitution Unit at University College London, says that the royal family is financed by two primary sources. The first, called the sovereign grant, comes from the Crown Estate, a multi-billion pound real estate portfolio; a percentage of the Crown Estate’s profits are used to pay the royal family for performing its official duties. (This year, that sum came to £86.3 million, or roughly £2.40 per taxpayer.) Their second source of income is made up of revenues from the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall, the private estates of the monarch and the heir, respectively.

The reason the cost of the coronation falls on the British state, rather than the royal family, is because “it’s a state event,” Morris says. A coronation isn’t necessary for a monarch to become king or queen—that automatically happens the moment the previous monarch dies. It’s perhaps for this reason that other European monarchies don’t bother with coronations. Still, to ask Britain’s official head of state to pay for their own would simply be “weird,” Fitzwilliams says—something that he warns could ultimately lead to calls for the monarchy to pay for itself. “You couldn’t have a head of state work like that,” he adds.

As unhappy as many Britons may be about the cost, polls suggest that that displeasure doesn’t extend to funding the monarchy writ large. More than half of Britons (54%) believe that the royal family represents good value for money, according to another recent YouGov poll. Proponents of the monarchy are quick to point out the role that the monarchy has in drawing tourism to the U.K., though the exact sum is difficult to quantify. Opponents, however, are unconvinced. “There is no evidence at all to support that tourism comes to Britain because of the monarchy,” Smith says, who argues that for all the people who may be traveling to London for the coronation, there will be just as many who will be leaving because of it.

ADVERTISEMENT
Tags: BritainCoronationKing Charles III
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

Ohanaeze Ndigbo: Inaugural Speech Delivered By Iwuanyanwu As The President General

Next Post

‘We will never negotiate under pressure’, ex-Cuba envoy to US says

You MayAlso Like

Israel-Hamas

Who are the 20 hostages who were released by Hamas?

October 14, 2025
The World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (C) speaks at a press conference on WTO's latest Global Trade Outlook and Statistics report at the WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Oct. 7, 2025. (Xinhua/Ma Ruxuan)
World News

World Trade Organization raises 2025 global trade growth forecast from 0.9% to 2.4%

October 11, 2025
Israel-Hamas

The long walk home: Tens of thousands of Palestinians head back to Gaza after ceasefire

October 11, 2025
UK

Woman appointed Archbishop of Canterbury 

October 3, 2025
King Charles and Prince Harry did not meet during the Duke's recent visit to the UK. (Image: Getty)
UK

Prince Harry issues strongly-worded statement over King Charles meeting

September 28, 2025
President Donald Trump attends a meeting with leaders of Qatar, Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, during the United Nations General Assembly in New York. | Evan Vucci/AP
Middle-East

Trump ‘promised Arab leaders he would not let Israel annex the West Bank’

September 25, 2025
Next Post

'We will never negotiate under pressure', ex-Cuba envoy to US says

Meet the first Egyptian, Arab female to blast into space

Discussion about this post

Ogwashi-Uku Community Launches Fiery Protests Against Obi Okonjo, Accuse Him of “Enslaving The People!”

Mburubu: Court Bars Jerry Onuokaibe from Organizing, Promoting New Yam Festival

President Tinubu Changes Service Chiefs

Anambra Audit Report Uncovers Over N725Million In Unretired Funds, Missing Vehicles, Fraudulent Contracts

The Task Ahead: Kabiru Turaki and PDP’s Rebuilding Mission

Cameroon’s Paul Biya, world’s oldest president, declared winner

  • British government apologizes to Peter Obi, as hired impostors, master manipulators on rampage abroad

    1242 shares
    Share 497 Tweet 311
  • Maids trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market

    1068 shares
    Share 427 Tweet 267
  • Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

    976 shares
    Share 390 Tweet 244
  • ‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

    905 shares
    Share 362 Tweet 226
  • Crisis echoes, fears grow in Amechi Awkunanaw in Enugu State

    738 shares
    Share 295 Tweet 185
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

British government apologizes to Peter Obi, as hired impostors, master manipulators on rampage abroad

April 13, 2023

Maids trafficked and sold to wealthy Saudis on black market

December 27, 2022
Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

Flight Attendant Sees Late Husband On Plane

September 22, 2023
‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

‘Céline Dion Dead 2023’: Singer killed By Internet Death Hoax

March 21, 2023
Chief Mrs Ebelechukwu, wife of Willie Obiano, former governor of Anambra state

NIGERIA: No, wife of Biafran warlord, Bianca Ojukwu lied – Ebele Obiano:

0

SOUTH AFRICA: TO LEAVE OR NOT TO LEAVE?

0
kelechi iheanacho

TOP SCORER: IHEANACHA

0
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

WHAT CAN’TBE TAKEN AWAY FROM JONATHAN

0
Many women in Tanzania are keen to have a say in democratic processes — but few decide to actually run for public office - Image: Glenn Carnell/State House Zanzibar

Tanzania: The overlooked power of youth and women’s votes

October 28, 2025
Investigators found the charred wreckage of the plane and unidentifiable human remains at the crash site

‘No survivors’ after tourist plane crashes en route to Kenya safari reserve

October 28, 2025

Mburubu: Court Bars Jerry Onuokaibe from Organizing, Promoting New Yam Festival

October 29, 2025
France’s first lady Brigitte Macron arrives to attend the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris on July 14, 2025. (Photo by Mohammed BADRA / POOL / AFP)

French First Lady gender row trial begins as 10 ‘trolls’ face jail for cyberbullying

October 28, 2025

ABOUT US

Time Africa Magazine

TIMEAFRICA MAGAZINE is an African Magazine with a culture of excellence; a magazine without peer. Nearly a third of its readers hold advanced degrees and include novelists, … READ MORE >>

SECTIONS

  • Aviation
  • Column
  • Crime
  • Europe
  • Featured
  • Gallery
  • Health
  • Interviews
  • Israel-Hamas
  • Lifestyle
  • Magazine
  • Middle-East
  • News
  • Politics
  • Press Release
  • Russia-Ukraine
  • Science
  • Special Report
  • Sports
  • TV/Radio
  • UAE
  • UK
  • US
  • World News

Useful Links

  • AllAfrica
  • Channel Africa
  • El Khabar
  • The Guardian
  • Cairo Live
  • Le Republicain
  • Magazine: 9771144975608
  • Subscribe to TIMEAFRICA MAGAZINE biweekly news magazine

    Enjoy handpicked stories from around African continent,
    delivered anywhere in the world

    Subscribe

    • About TimeAfrica Magazine
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • WHO’SWHO AWARDS

    © 2025 TimeAfrica Magazine - All Right Reserved. TimeAfrica Magazine Ltd is published by Times Associates, registered Nigeria. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.

    No Result
    View All Result
    • WHO’SWHO AWARDS
    • Politics
    • Column
    • Interviews
    • Gallery
    • Lifestyle
    • Special Report
    • Sports
    • TV/Radio
    • Aviation
    • Health
    • Science
    • World News

    © 2025 TimeAfrica Magazine - All Right Reserved. TimeAfrica Magazine Ltd is published by Times Associates, registered Nigeria. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service.

    This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.