On Wednesday’s episode of Good Morning Britain (9 April), a fiery debate about the Royal Family’s funding took centre stage.
Hosts Ed Balls and Ranvir Singh were joined by Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams and Republic’s CEO Graham Smith for the discussion.
Republic is a British republican advocacy group that campaigns for the monarchy to be replaced with an official parliamentary republic.
The quartet delved into the topic of King Charles and Queen Camilla’s current state visit to Italy, which is financed by the taxpayer-funded sovereign grant. This grant, which covers the cost of the royals’ official duties, is set to rise from £86.3m to £132m.
Richard argued that maximising assets is crucial in times of financial strain, and he believes the Royal Family is one such asset. He praised the royals’ international visits, citing King Charles’ meeting with President Trump in the US as an example.
However, Graham was less convinced about the economic benefits of the royals’ foreign trips, stating, “The idea that the monarchy brings anything into the economy has been debunked. That’s not ‘true’.”
He also shed light on how the Crown Estate’s funding works and pointed out the income King Charles receives from the Duchy of Lancaster, reports the Manchester Evening News.
A GMB poll asked viewers whether Royal trips should continue to receive public funds. Ranvir revealed that a significant 72 percent of respondents are in favour of cutting the funding, while a contrasting 28 percent believe it should persist.
The topic sparked an on-air squabble between Richard and Ed, with the Royal pundit asserting: “The trips will always go on because you’ve got to have diplomacy. You’ve got to cultivate your friends.”
Ed, however, interrupted to highlight the viewers’ support for Graham’s viewpoint, exclaiming: “You’ve lost the debate, you’ve lost the debate! Graham won, it’s where we are! Can we move on?”
On social media, opinions were split, as one user suggested: “Time to knock this unnecessary expenditure on the head,” while another declared: “Royalty has had its day. Scrap the lot.”
Meanwhile, others saw value in Royal events, with a comment noting: “The proof is the royal events filmed in the UK. There are always American people interviewed at royal events who say they came over specifically for the royal event because they love the royal family. This intern brings in revenue as they spend when they are here.”
Good Morning Britain airs on weekdays on ITV1 from 6am
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
