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News > World

'Royal Parasites': Citizens Condemn Public Fund Use for Second Royal Wedding in a Year, 40,000 Sign Petition

  • Jack Brooksbank and Princess Eugenie

    Jack Brooksbank and Princess Eugenie | Photo: Twitter/@RoyalFamily

Published 10 October 2018
Opinion

The United Kingdom-based group Republic has gathered 40,000 signatures demanding the government stop the use of public funds for the royal event.

Despite opposition to the British royal family’s use of public money to pay for much of the cost of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding, people in the United Kingdom are getting ready to pay for another royal wedding scheduled for Friday.

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Princess Eugenie is getting married on Oct. 12 and the United Kingdom-based group Republic has gathered over 40,000 signatures in support of a petition urging the House of Commons and government stop the use of public funds for the royal event.

Eugenie, 28, younger daughter of Queen Elizabeth's third child Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, will tie the knot with boyfriend Jack Brooksbank, 32, at the monarch's Windsor home.

Prince Andrew, currently 7th in line to the throne, divorced Ferguson amicably in 1996 after a decade-long marriage.

The cost of the wedding is estimated to reach US$3.3 million, most of which will be spent on security, and covered by the nation’s coffers. According to the BBC, the police estimated they will pay US$2.6 million on security expenses, but the real amount could exceed the estimates. 

Former MP Norman Baker called on the princess’s father, the Duke of York, to foot the security bill arguing, “the royal family is showing arrogance and contempt for the public by generating this vanity bill.”

Homeless people who sleep on the streets of Windsor, where the wedding is taking place, have denounced that the city is urging them to leave the streets and is removing their belongings before the royal event.

“That money could be spent on housing. People that are actually homeless and vulnerable could become a priority,” James Pusey, one of the homeless people affected told the Mirror.

Social media users are expressing similar concern over how public funds are being used, highlighting the money invested in the royal wedding could be put to better use. 

Others have demanded the money be invested in the national health system, public schools, or tackle homelessness in the U.K. 

A Republic spokesperson warned “there is a strong feeling, even among monarchists, that we shouldn’t be paying for Eugenie’s big day … the monarchy is stretching its public support to a breaking point. There’s a real risk Friday’s wedding will damage the royals for a long time to come.”

In the petition, the groups argued that a poll conducted in May showed that 66 percent of the British public were not interested in Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, and 57 percent believed the royals should have paid the full cost of the wedding, including the cost of policing and security.

Eugenie, ninth-in-line to the throne, works in the art world while her fiancé, a former manager of popular London nightclub Mahiki, works in the drinks and hospitality industry.

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