King Charles III's 'Slimmed-Down' Coronation Costs Were Just Revealed & the Amount Is Surprising

When King Charles III began planning his May 2023 coronation, he promised that it would be a “slimmed-down affair.” Now that the final costs for his big celebration have been revealed, many royal critics are wondering how the budget got so bloated.

The final figure for the monarch’s rise to the throne cost almost $91 million (£72 million) and was split between the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and security efforts for the global event, according to the BBC. DCMS called it a “once-in-a-generation moment” and promised that the downsized event would be smaller than Queen Elizabeth II’s 1953 coronation.

The astronomical number, paid by the U.K. taxpayers during a cost-of-living crisis, isn’t winning over many royal fans. Graham Smith, Charles’ most vocal critic, and CEO of the anti-monarchy group Republic, wasn’t exactly thrilled about the final tally. He described the spending of taxpayers’ money as “obscene” to The Guardian.

“I would be very surprised if £72m was the whole cost,” he said to the media outlet. “But even that kind of money – £72m – is incredible. It’s a huge amount of money to spend on one person’s parade when there was no obligation whatsoever in the constitution or in law to have a coronation, and when we were facing cuts to essential services.”

Smith and members of his group were present at the coronation and were detained for disturbing the peace while wearing their “Not MY King” t-shirts, per the BBC. Republic shared snapshots on their X account of Metropolitan police officers pulling the yellow t-shirt-wearing anti-monarchists from the crowd. “So much for the right to peaceful protest #NotMyKing #AbolishTheMonarchy,” they wrote in their post.

The Republic group leader has continued to be a thorn in Charles and Prince William’s side — and it’s going to get worse now that the Prince of Wales has shared his decision to put “a smaller r in the royal” when he’s on the throne. “His ‘r’ couldn’t get any smaller, to be honest,” Smith told NBC News earlier this month. “He barely does anything at all. He’s an incredibly lazy man who manages to get a pretty small splashing of engagements to look like he is busy.”

Charles and William are going to be held accountable for the taxpayer dollars they spend, and Smith is going to be the one calling them out every chance he gets.

Before you go, click here to see all the best pictures from King Charles III’s coronation.