A new poll indicates that more than half of the UK’s adults do not want British Government to fund King Charles’ coronation.
Only 32 per cent of the people are agreeing that the UK Government should indeed be providing the money for the coronation.
The YouGov survey completed a fortnight before the coronation of King Charles III and the Queen Consort found 51 per cent of UK adults in opposition to the government funding the occasion, with almost a third saying it should, and 18 per cent did not know.
The national event will cost taxpayers millions, but no budget has been revealed yet, with the government not commenting on the expected costs and the public spending still unknown.
Occurring amid the ongoing high cost of living crisis with strike actions by doctors, nurses and teachers and other public servants still underway over pay, Graham Smith, the chief executive of campaign group Republic, has called the event an ‘expensive pantomime’ and a ‘slap in the face for millions of people’.
King Charles III apart from being the head of state and government for the UK, he is also head of state and government in other 14 commonwealth countries including Australia and he is also the head of the 154 member-state of the Commonwealth.
Oliver Dowden, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, previously said the King and the UK Government are ‘mindful of ensuring that there is value for the taxpayer’, with no ‘lavishness or excess’.
But Mr Dowden, speaking to the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee this year, said, ‘It is a marvellous moment in our history, and people would not want a dour scrimping and scraping’.
The event (codenamed ‘Operation Golden Orb’) could cost the nation as much as between £50 and £100 million, according to unconfirmed predictions.
Random vox pop interviews in Nottingham shows that a lot of people don’t want King Charles III to spend taxpayers’ millions of pounds on a lavish coronation when millions of taxpayers are struggling with the cost of living.
Ashley Williams, 46, a Quantity Surveyor, of Hucknall lane in Bulwell, Nottingham, said: “I don’t think it is fair for the government to be spending millions on a coronation while the people cannot afford a decent meal.
“Let King Charles III pay for his coronation, it is not as if he doesn’t have the money. He is stinking rich. Perharps, it is just the wrong time as people are suffering out there and it is insensitive and careless to waste money on a coronation,” said Williams.
36-year-old beautician, Megan Mitchell, of Beeston said she no longer cares about the monarchy and therefore not interested in King Charles’s coronation.
Said Mitchell: “For me, the monarch died when the Queen died. I loved the Queen to bits and when died my love for the royal family died with her. I just don’t care anymore.
Charles Dawson, 45, a philosopher, of Sutton in Ashfield, Nottingham believes the government should make available funds for the coronation because the monarch is the ultimate symbol of the British pride and treasure.
“There are some things in life that needs to happen regardless of the price and King Charles’s coronation is one of them.
“It is not about how much money it will cost for the coronation, rather it is the value of the ceremony to the people and the pride that comes with it” he said.
In 1953, Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation cost £912,000, around £20.5 million in today’s money, Charles’ grandfather, George VI, was crowned for £454,000 in 1937 (£24.8 million in 2023) – the most expensive coronation in the last 300 years.
In the 18 to 24 age category (the survey comprised 4,246 adults), 62 per cent did not believe the government should fund the event, with 15 per cent in favour. Of those aged 65 and over, 44 per cent said it should not be government-funded, with 43 per cent in favour.
With those in the 25 to 49-year-old category, 25 per cent said the coronation should be funded by the government, with 55 per cent saying it should not.
In the 50 to 64-year-old category, 46 per cent said it should not be down to Government money, with 39 per cent saying it should.
As with jubilees and other such events, the total cost and funding breakdown will not be available until after the May 6 event.
“There are some things in life that needs to happen regardless of the price, and King Charles III’s coronation is one of them.
Charles Dawson
Philosopher
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