King Charles' Coronation Bill: The Eye-Popping Amount Revealed
The new British monarch spends heaps on his coronation despite the promise to keep it small and inexpensive.
Perhaps the first thing you think of when you hear the word 'monarchy' is luxury and pomp like in Disney movies. However, today's monarchies are much more modest and indeed modern. At least, they are trying to be.
The son and heir of late Queen Elizabeth II, Charles had witnessed his mother's record-breaking 70-year reign and became the king at the age of 73. Right away, the newly minted king made his unorthodox views on the monarchy public.
One thing Charles said was that he wanted to modernize it, which included reducing the financial burden of the monarchy on the population. One would think that Charles' coronation would be the right place to start implementing this plan, but according to the publication by The US Sun, the ceremony is going to cost twice as much as Queen Elizabeth II's.
Elizabeth became the queen shortly after her father George VI's death in February 1952. Her coronation, however, took place more than a year after that, on June 3, 1953.
Only eight years after the end of World War II, Churchill's government spent as much as £1.5 million — approx. £50 million in today's money — on the event, as it was deemed to bring the destitute nation together and celebrate their glory.
King Charles III's forthcoming crowning, scheduled to take place on May 6 this year, will reportedly cost the British a whopping £100 million.
This much money is definitely not what the public expected after King Charles voiced his intentions to keep the coronation simpler and smaller than Queen Elizabeth's. But it seems that the government has other plans, considering the crowning ceremony to be a huge PR opportunity for the nation.
Nevertheless, King Charles' wish to keep it small is granted, as there will be only around 2,200 guests instead of 8,000 that attended Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.
Simon Morgan, a former royal protection officer, justified the twofold difference in expenses citing the security concerns for such a high-profile event as the coronation of a British monarch. Indeed, in the world of terrorism and ongoing wars, security issues can't be taken lightly.