MOST people want the royal family to pay for a proposed new statue of the late Queen Elizabeth, a poll has shown.
The statue planned for St James' Park in London is set to cost the UK Government as much as £46 million, with ministers calling on leading artists, architects and engineers to compete to design the project’s masterplan.
But a poll conducted by Savanta over the weekend has shown 75% of people want the royals to pay for the memorial. In Scotland this rose to 80%, just behind Northern Ireland at 83%.
Just 14% suggested they were comfortable with the UK Government footing the bill. In Scotland, this stood at a mere 11%.
The poll – commissioned by anti-monarchy group Republic – showed a big majority in all age groups and demographics wanting the royals to cover the cost.
Republic CEO Graham Smith said it was yet another study that showed true royalists are in a small minority.
He said: "This result is hardly surprising. We spend over half a billion pounds on the monarchy every year, we allow them to avoid paying taxes and we pay Charles and William personal incomes of more than £23m each.
"Yet when they want a statue to the Queen they expect the taxpayer to pay. This has to stop. They can pay for their own statue.
“Clearly the public do not want taxpayers footing the bill for a pointless statue, at a time when public services are at breaking point."
More than 70% of every age group believe the royals should take responsibility for the bill. A whopping 80% of 18 to 24-year-olds were in agreement, showing the changing tide when it comes to public opinion of the monarchy.
Savanta interviewed 2170 UK adults aged 18 and over online between December 13 and 16.
It comes after it was revealed last month King Charles’ coronation cost taxpayers £72m, according to the UK Government.
Republic has speculated the full cost of the ceremony was likely much more.
The figures included £50.3m of Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) costs as well as £21.7m for the Home Office for policing the event in May 2023.
In September, it also emerged the royal household now costs the taxpayer more than £500 million a year in what was branded a “scandalous abuse of public money” by anti-monarchy campaigners.
Republic compiled a 27-page report entitled The Half a Billion Pound Royals laying out how much the public are forking out to support the lavish lifestyles of King Charles and his family.
The estimated price tag of £510m includes hundreds of millions of pounds not accounted for by the Sovereign Grant – a payment that is made annually to the monarch to help fund their official duties.
Republic said the bill for the royals included lost income from the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, as well as an estimated £150m security bill, costs to struggling local councils and lost revenue from state buildings used exclusively by the royals.
