Counting the Coronation’s costs

Rarely has attention been so laser-focussed on the cost of a public event as during the recent coronation of King Charles III. So, what was the final damage, who foots the bill and what is the return on investment?

by | 18 May, 2023

Buckingham Palace lined up with Union Jack flags

The fancier the event, the higher the mark-up. From birthdays to weddings to funerals, suppliers always find a way to bump up the cost of products and services that might otherwise be priced quite reasonably – a cake, a bunch of flowers, a wooden box, a dress that doesn’t even use any coloured dye.

But every so often an event comes along that really does take the cake in terms of expense. The recent coronation of King Charles III fits that bill very neatly.

While its final, precise cost hasn’t yet been calculated, most experts put the price of the crowning event at around £100 million.

And it’s all paid for by the taxpayer.

Just for reference, that’s about 5239 Vauxhall Corsas, 25 million Big Macs, 25,641 funerals, 600 to 1000 new homes, or Erling Haaland’s bank account after three seasons of rampant goalscoring with Manchester City.

Even more distressing for those concerned about the cost to the economy is the reported effect of the bank holiday, estimated at somewhere between £1.36 billion and £2.39 billion

However, that cost will have been somewhat offset by tourism on the long weekend of the coronation, as well as spending in cafes, restaurants and pubs. UK Hospitality estimated a boost of £350 million to the sector over the coronation weekend.

Plus, sales across all types of retail in the UK, says research by The Centre for Economics and Business Research, are boosted by 15 per cent on bank holidays.

It cost the guests even more

Of course, there’s also the spending that was forced upon the special guests of the coronation.

While they were encouraged to leave their ceremonial swords at home for safety’s sake, many had to take a trip to London’s Savile Row, specifically to traditional, bespoke outfitters Henry Poole & Co, to ensure they didn’t commit the ultimate fashion faux pas.

Rory Stewart, member of Parliament for Penrith and The Border, and one of 2,000 guests (Elizabeth had 8,000) at Westminster Abbey for the King’s coronation, revealed on his podcast The Rest is Politics what this involved.

“What I was wearing was actually a little bit more informal than was written in the regulations,” Stewart said.

“The regulations say I’m supposed to be in white silk stockings and white silk britches, but [a tailor from Henry Poole & Co] very kindly explained that because the Earl Marshal was wearing trousers, it would be proper for me to wear trousers with a gold band down the side, and then this extraordinary jacket. And I had to have an ostrich feather hat and a pair of white gloves.”

Then there were the mysterious toileting tools that at least one of the coronation’s more elderly guests was prepared to employ during the very long ceremony; many had to arrive by 7.45am for an event that would not be over until after 1pm.

“Somebody told me he brought along a special device to pee into,” Stewart said. “I didn’t want to ask too many questions about what that device was or how that works. But this was one of the older men.”

We don’t want to ask too many questions either, but someone has to. What does such a device cost? Were the older guests ahead of the curve on this one, and recycling their ‘special devices’ from Elizabeth’s longer coronation? And are such tools and the uniforms tax deductible?

Why did the event cost so much?

The glittering display of pomp and pageantry broke records, as far as coronations are concerned.

The Independent reported the late Queen Elizabeth’s coronation as having cost, in today’s money, about £20.5 million, although others such as CNBC put that amount higher, at £50 million. The cost of the coronation of Charles’s grandfather, George VI, in today’s money, was around £24.8 million, agreed The Evening Standard and CNBC.

Why so expensive? Of course, one cost driver is inflation which is currently over 10 per cent. A crown liberally scattered with sapphires, amethysts and rubies, along with a golden sceptre containing a 530 carat diamond, would have sold for a relative song pre-COVID. 

Of course, the crown jewels – owned by the current monarch but held in trust to be passed on to the next – with their combined estimated value of up to £5 billion, did not have to be purchased for the event. So they might instead be considered an appreciating asset.

One major cost was the massive security project surrounding every aspect of the event. Security, many experts point out, was not really considered an issue in 1953 when Elizabeth took the throne.

The 1.3 mile journey taken by the Diamond Jubilee State Coach – which is so much more comfortable than the ancient, open-air Gold State Coach thanks to its electric windows, air conditioning, and hydraulic suspension to soak up the bumps on The Mall – required road closures and policing, crowd control and the setting up of viewing platforms, large screens and port-a-loos.

Sadly, there’s no new local business to be had for us in manufacturing plush coaches for the world’s royal families. The Diamond Jubilee State Coach was made in Australia.

Finally, there are the thousands of organisations and individuals involved in the event who had to be paid, from those who groomed and dressed the horses, to the BBC which managed the broadcast, to whoever prepared the vegan anointing oil before it was poured into the Coronation Spoon.

As his estimated worth is £1.8 billion, we’re not sure whether King Charles is currently scanning the fine print of the Spring Budget to figure out what can be written off. 

 

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