<\/p>\n
How else does one explain away last night\u2019s financial statement in which we are told the King paid \u00a330m in taxes but are left none the wiser as to what his income is. Or which bits of his many assets he deigns to pay tax on. If Charles can\u2019t manage to plonk his head on a silken pillow inside his main abode a couple of times a month, pray why did he inherit vast Balmoral and Sandringham estates tax free? You can see where this is going\u2026<\/p>\n
The Royal family is not immune to the incoming tide of scepticism and division. Recent polling places support for the institution at an all-time low of 55 per cent, with apathy the main threat to its long-term survival. If the House of Windsor<\/a> wants to keep squaring the circle that is hereditary monarchy in an angry, democratic age, they might consider holding onto a little bit more of the awe and wonder. It was the English constitutionalist Walter Bagehot who insisted \u201cwe must not let in daylight upon the magic\u201d but that is precisely what will happen if the Royals vacate Buckingham Palace for good.<\/p>\n Left uninhabited, to justify the \u00a3369m of taxpayers\u2019 money that has been spent on its renovation (Graham Smith of Republic has already got his claws into this), the floodgates will surely open all year around. Cue Joe Public traipsing through the throne room, the ballroom and onwards to the south drawing room, home of Andrew\u2019s infamous interview and the next hot-spot for anti-monarchy photo-ops.<\/p>\n No better than Versailles, at best Buckingham Palace will become yet another Royal home without a heartbeat, all future balcony kisses and Red Arrow flybys exposed as performative shams and Prince Harry and his American Duchess Meghan the only family members ever in residence, on a stopover from the States. A prospect most royalists will baulk at.<\/p>\n Christopher Robin\u2019s Alice insisted \u201cI wouldn\u2019t be King for a hundred pounds.\u201d A sentiment many sympathise with. But given that public funding for the monarch is set to almost double to \u00a3100m in a few years, is an occasional glimpse of the King at the window really too much to ask?<\/p>\n