Why is the tax payer paying £2M for Eugenie's wedding?

[lelepond]

Why does this irrelevant individual (who is not a working royal therefore carries out no royal functions) feel it necessary to have such an extravagant wedding which necessitates a security bill of £2 million? I find it totally unacceptable given that so many of our public services are struggling. AIBU to ask why more people aren't outraged? Who even is she? What is her purpose?

WhirlyGigWhirlyGig your "rational" argument was that Eugenie's choice to have her family around her means that the taxpayer will have to incur the unavoidable cost of £2 million. I merely stated that is not the case.

The carriage ride is a bit over the top and will cost a chunk of the policing. Apart from the first in line to the throne, I think Royal weddings should be entirely private, all of them. They could get married at Windsor and have no public view of them whatsoever. Princess Anne's second marriage was at Crathie Church and she turned up in a landrover and no fuss. No announcement beforehand. 30 seconds on tv.

Why can’t Dad or Granny pick up the bill?

Absolutely, Motherhood101Fail.

She can invite who she likes, but the carriage ride? Prince Harry was marrying a glamorous tv star; Eugenie is marrying - as you say - a chinless numpty. Who wants to wave at him?!

I think Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank seem very nice, very happy together and I hope they have a lovely day. I just don't thin' i5 is any of anyone's business but theirs and their guests- could all have happened privately. It is only our expectations of being able to see it, be there at Windsor and St George's that mean it costs extra. The gates at Windsor could be shut and it all take place privately with no public access and no carriage ride.

By my back of the envelope calculation, 2 million pounds is how much the UK government was borrowing every 7 minutes in the final year of the last Labour Government. We'll survive.

And the circus that surrounded MM was ridiculous. That should have been a quiet, private wedding.

I don’t remember any of this kerfuffle with Zara and Peter’s weddings.

I’d be interested what the cost (to the public purse) their weddings were.

It should be paid from the sovereign grant as that's what it's there for.

When did they negotiate security expenses to be paid direct from the exchequer? You got to have it to them, the cheeky fuckery is astronomical.

Is there much public appetite to see Eugenie parade around in a carriage? I get it for Meghan and Harry, but not sure about her.

with the chinless numpty she's marrying

Let’s see a photo of you then 😡

I feel a tiny bit sorry for her, despite all their protestations about being working princesses, and having normal jobs and aspirations she and her sister are clearly clueless about how the world really works. It's not their fault really, they are unfortunate enough to have blinkered parents, but it is a bit sad that their three years at university did not prepare them better and give them more understanding of how other people live.

What they need is an advisor who is prepared to say "no" or " that is a stupid idea" but all they have are yes people .

I don't think she set out to be Bridezilla of the Year but is certainly heading that way.

Even if she just took close family to the local registry office, it would still need fairly expensive security, because the Queen and all her children and grandchildren would all be there, so still a high risk undertaking with them all there together, so possibly not significantly below £2M.

It's such a tiny fraction of the public purse I really can't get worked up about it.

If you're worried about funding the NHS or whatever, they could save far more by not using ridiculously expensive suppliers for drugs and bandages etc and employing staff directly rather than via agencies. Stuff like that probably wastes millions of pounds a week, so far outweighs the drop in the ocean of a one off £2M cost.

BarbaraofSeville
Yes, yes, and yes.

You do know that heads of states families across the world get this level of sercuitry do you think USA head of states uncle and aunties nephews and nieces are not in danger?

You are fooling yourself even the prime minster and high level minsters all have protection for the extended family because THEY ARE TARGETS SIMPLY BECAUSE THERE FAMILY MEMBER IS A GOVERNMENT minster.

So damn right the tax payer should fit the bill unless you only want people in office that have 0 family members or a law barring people with family from office this will always be a problem.

It states in the independent that the we pay 1p per tax payer is incorrect for the royals, as this doesn't include their security costs etc so it is higher. And tbh I would rather my money went elsewhere tbh.

I think we should cull the royals down at least, have the queen and then the next few people down the throne funded Hythe sovereign grant.
Everyone else use your private money to pay for your lavish lifestyle.

What they need is an advisor who is prepared to say "no" or " that is a stupid idea" but all they have are yes people

I agree. But all it would take is a word with their Aunt Anne, who is a lot more thoughtful about this stuff than their idiot father.

The security is to protect the public, - you know, ordinary people like you and me. How much outcry would there be if God knows how many people got blown to smithereens? I'm more pissed off about the millions it costs us to protect our feeble excuses for politicians, day in and day out.

I've read that Prince Andrew is the one pushing for the carriage ride etc. He resents and is pushing back on Prince Charles' aim to slim down the monarchy and doesn't want his daughters marginalised. In the grand scheme of things, the cost is not that much, none of us will feel it. Look people will turn up to watch. They did for Zara Peters' wedding down the royal mile in Edinburgh.

So damn right the tax payer should fit the bill unless you only want people in office that have 0 family members or a law barring people with family from office this will always be a problem

But they already get huge amounts of public money in the form of the sovereign grant, so why can't they budget their security costs from that?

The extra security bill is cause they are having the public and the ride around windsor.

It isn't cause the other Royals are going, they can all gather at Windsor Castle without the extra security and do often.

The Irish tax payer recently paid around 30 million euro for the Pope's visit to Ireland.
I resent that. At least Eugenie's wedding will include some nice dresses and hats to look at .

As she is not a very high profile important member of the royal family I would have thought a quieter wedding would have been more appropriate. Princess Anne didn't have the full works for her wedding to Commander Tim, and Zara and her brother had relatively quiet affairs.
The royal family have so many quiet and suitable venues it is totally unreasonable for there to be carriage parades around busy towns that require security. Balmoral or Sandringham might have been better.

The Irish tax payer recently paid around 30 million euro for the Pope's visit to Ireland

That was an extraordinary event, admittedly one many people are not particularly happy about.

However the Irish taxpayer gets a much better deal out of their presidential system which is a good deal less costly than the royal family.