Prince William has made no secret of the fact that he wants to reshape the monarchy when he eventually takes the throne – but it seems like his father, King Charles III, is already making a start!
According to reports, King Charles has already started making changes in a bid to cut back on spending. Let’s not forget that he had a much smaller coronation, with CBS reporting that 2,000 guests were invited to the King’s, compared to the 8,000 people invited to his late mother’s in 1953.
King Charles Saves The Public £20M
King Charles, 75, has reportedly already saved the public £20M (around $25M) over the past year. According to The Sovereign Grant, which is funded by the taxpayer and is used to support the official duties of the monarch, the royal family's spending reached a record high last year and exceeded £107M.
This year, it decreased by 17 percent to £89.1M, so it seems like the King is doing *something* right. One thing which must have made a huge difference was the decision to cut back on the refurbishment of Buckingham Palace, which was initially said to cost £369M.
Another cost-saving move could be in relation to royal staff, as last year, it was reported that both King Charles and Queen Camilla wanted to reduce their staff at the major royal residences: Buckingham Palace, Sandringham, Windsor Castle, and Balmoral. "There is a real feeling that the staffing at all the palaces is too heavy," an inside source told The Sunday Times in August last year, adding: "There are far too many assistants to assistants."
King Charles' Plans For The Monarchy
King Charles' desires to streamline the monarchy have been known for quite a while. In 2021, Harry: Conversations with the Prince author Angela Levin told TalkRadio about his plans to "cut the monarchy down," saying he wanted to "save costs and to make people be worth the money that they get from the taxpayer."
This was quite different to how the late Queen Elizabeth II wanted to do things, as Levin said the Queen wanted to maintain the "outer edge" of royals due to "sentimental reasons." She added: "I think the outer edge, which the Queen has wanted to keep together for a very long time for sentimental reasons, which at her age she didn't really particularly want change, which I think is understandable. But he wants to change and I think he will do that."
Princess Anne Doesn't Agree With King Charles' Plans To Slim Down The Monarchy
Princess Anne doesn't think slimming down the monarchy is actually a good idea – and has made her opinion known! "I think 'slimmed-down' was said in a day when there were a few more people around to make that seem like a justifiable comment," the Princess Royal said in an interview with Canada's CBC News in May 2023.
"It doesn't sound like a good idea from where I'm standing. I'm not quite sure what else we can do," she continued. She also went on to say that, in her opinion, the monarchy was already streamlined enough after Prince Harry and Meghan Marke stepped down as senior royals.
