The Labour government has been urged to slash spending on the royal family after it emerged they cost more than half a billion pounds a year.
A report by campaign group Republic found the estimated annual price tag for bankrolling the royals is £510m, including hundreds of millions of pounds not accounted for by the sovereign grant.
The group has called for Chancellor Rachel Reeves to cut the royal budget ahead of any reduction in spending on the welfare or the NHS.
Republic’s report said the royals’ huge bill includes “lost income” from King Charles’s Duchy of Lancaster and Prince William’s Duchy of Cornwall, as well as an estimated £150m security bill.
It also cites costs to struggling local councils and lost revenue from state buildings used exclusively by the royals.
Republic said its report “provides irrefutable evidence” that the two duchies are state property, rather than private estates.
Graham Smith of Republic said the half a billion pound cost of the royals represented a “scandalous abuse of public money”.
“It is the result of royal corruption and secrecy, a family that believes it can spend public money with impunity,” he said.
“If Rachel Reeves thinks tough decisions are needed in these difficult times, she needs to start with the royals – we’re being told the budget will be painful. Well if that’s true, the cuts must start at the top.”
Mr Smith said the cost of the royal family was the equivalent of 18,000 NHS nurses.
He called for the royal budget to be slashed to below £10m, with only King Charles receiving any public funding.
