At last, an economic policy we can all get behind – doubling the royal family’s funding | Marina Hyde

F inally, some part of our struggling state is getting a massive budget increase – and it’s not even the welfare bill, like normal. Or maybe it is? The monarchy’s core funding is going to double to £100m. Also mentioned under cover of the same info dump is the fact that the refurbishment of Buckingham Palace is currently coming in at £369m, but the King and Queen don’t want to live there when it’s done. Personally, I’m a big fan of the gaiety the Windsors add to this nation, willingly or otherwise, but I do worry: are we enabling a culture of dependence that isn’t actually great for any of the people involved? Does the royal economy need rebalancing, if it is simply impossible to own an absolutely vast private network of land and high-end properties without somehow still needing a top-up from the state? You’ve heard of the poverty trap – will no one think of the royalty trap? Maybe the Windsors would argue their sovereign grant counts as “in-work benefits”, given their royal duties. But looking at some numbers circulated by the MP Norman Baker this week , one has to wonder if we are actually discouraging work with an overly generous safety net. According to Baker’s research, Prince William has done 57 royal engagements so far this year, which doesn’t feel like the shift we might expect from an able-bodied – if mental-health-obsessed – 44-year-old man, while the King, who is 77 and has cancer, has done 76. Princess Anne is beating the pack yet again with 100. …