A ROYAL expert has been left red-faced after being shot down by Good Morning Britain host Ed Balls in a debate about funding trips abroad.
The ITV show featured a fiery debate about the royal family on Wednesday amid King Charles and Queen Camilla's state visit to Italy, which is being funded by the taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant.
The grant for the royals' official duties and is set to increase from £86.3 million to £132m.
Graham Smith, the CEO of anti-monarchy group Republic, faced royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams, with the latter arguing the family were an "asset" to the UK that needed to be "maximised" in times of financial difficulty.
He said: "What's significant, I think, is when a country is in financial difficulty, there's no doubt at all that services are being stretched. You've also got to maximise your assets, and our asset is the royal family."
He said that royals visiting different countries is a good thing, highlighting King Charles' visit to the US to meet with President Trump, and argued the trips were "value for money".
Smith fired back at him saying that the idea the monarchy brings anything to the UK monarchy has been "debunked".
"That's not true," Smith said to Fitzwilliams.
A poll was then presented to viewers which revealed 72% of viewers were in favour of defunding royal trips, with just 28% believing the funding should continue.
King Charles and Queen Camilla are currently in Italy on a state visit. However such visits aren’t cheap. The taxpayer-funded sovereign grant, which pays for the Royal Family’s official duties, will increase from £86.3m to £132m. So, is it time to stop funding royal trips? pic.twitter.com/x3GkyFqSuM
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) April 9, 2025
Fitzwilliams still attempted to defend the funding adding: "The trips will always go on because you've got to have diplomacy. You've got to cultivate your friends."
But he was quickly shot down by Balls who pointed out viewers had clearly sided with Smith.
Balls said: "You've lost the debate, you've lost the debate! Graham won, it's where we are! Can we move on?!"
Fellow host Ranvir Singh also said: "This is democracy. The public has spoken."
During the debate, Smith gave an insight into how funding the Crown Estate works, as well as highlighting the income King Charles receives from the Duchy of Lancaster.
Official royal accounts released last year revealed that huge profits of more than £1 billion from the Crown Estate meant the taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant would rise to £132m in 2025/26.
The surge in profits from the estate was due to six new offshore wind farms.
"The Crown Estate money is ours, it doesn't belong to them," Smith said.
"We pay Charles through the Duchy of Lancaster something like 160 times what we pay Keir Starmer."
Republic say the real cost of the royals is £510m a year, with security costs estimated at £150m.
Security isn’t part of the calculation of the Sovereign Grant, which covers spending such as staffing, travel, and the upkeep of royal buildings.
The group has launched a major campaign called Ditch the Duchies arguing the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster “are public property” and do not belong to the royal family.
A report released earlier this year called for the abolition of both estates and for their revenue to be spent on local communities through a new “National Estate”.
