#NotMyKing: King Charles left shame-faced as anti-Royal sentiment soars after monarchy is found to cost the U.K over £500 million a year

For a nation that has several television shows dedicated to shaming welfare cheats, the U.K. Power structure doesn’t seem to care about the biggest scroungers of them all: the Royals, and their figurehead, King Charles.

It’s beyond dispute that the cousin-marrying Windsors take more from the country than they bring in. Yes, grand attractions like Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace drive tourist numbers, but it’s not like people aren’t visiting Versailles because the French decided to do the smart thing and chop the heads off their monarchs. The people would still come, even without the potential chance of spotting King Charles and his strange sausage fingers.

There is plenty of evidence proving that the Royals are as parasitic as the protagonists of Bong Joon-ho’s best picture winner. The latest report from the anti-monarchy group Republic adds more weight to this argument. The group has claimed she supposed 86 million pound cost of the sovereign grant (which funds the Royals) is actually as much as six times that amount, as massive costs like security are not included.

There is also the fact that the monarchy rakes in income from the vast swathes of land they own across the U.K., which could instead be used to fund public services. Of course, property rights are vital to the British system of law and order, so these can’t just be confiscated, even if barbarism and violent conquest was how they ended up in the hands of the Royals, historically. But it also doesn’t seem prudent to pay for banquets and Prince Andrew’s failing PR team rather than injecting much needed cash into schools and hospitals.

There’s also the moral issue of a monarchy. After all, how can Britain claim to be a society that rewards merit, when the head of state achieves their position by dint of privileged birth? These arguments and more are why anti-monarchy sentiment is much higher among the youth of the U.K. than in older generations, and this latest report has seen a further burst of animosity towards Charles and co. on social media.

While it’s highly unlikely we’ll see the monarchy being abolished in the next few years, it does seem inevitable that there will be a reckoning soon. Prince William, despite being more popular than his father, doesn’t seem to have the presence or charisma to rescue the failing institution, either.

In classic Royal style, Buckingham Palace’s PR team has declined to comment on the report.

Still and all, despite being an institution of waning appeal and diminishing influence, the Royals still seem to hold millions of onlookers in rapt fascination. Whether it’s to speculate on the health of their marriages, their mysterious absences from public life, their media partnerships, their treatment of staff, or to consume hours of Netflix content based on their lives, they’ve become, ironically, our loyal subjects.