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Make the UK royal family's costs public.
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This is the Weekend Edition of Bloomberg Opinion Today, a roundup of the most popular stories Bloomberg Opinion publishes each week based on web readership. New subscribers can sign up here; follow us on Bluesky, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and Threads.

A King’s Ransom: The Eye-Watering Cost of Charles III — Rosa Prince

How much should British taxpayers pay to keep the royal family living in the style they’re accustomed?

Financial accounts show the sovereign grant that supports King Charles III and his family in carrying out their official duties increased by 53% in the last financial year. It now stands at £132 million ($174 million). That’s a big leap — more than quadruple the £31 million of the initial grant when it was introduced in 2012.

The campaign group Republic, which seeks the abolition of the monarchy, estimates the true annual cost is closer to £510 million, once security, travel and other expenses are factored in. That would put the real price tag for the monarchy at about £7 for every person in the UK — not a huge amount, perhaps.

And most Brits are sanguine about footing the bill — an Ipsos poll released this month found 48% considered the royals good value for money, while 25% thought they weren’t worth it and the rest were unsure.

But is the public being shortchanged?

Read the whole thing for free.

Modi Could Get Cornered on Trade by the White House — Andy Mukherjee

Ukraine and Europe Are on Their Own Now — Marc Champion

Why China’s Fighter Jets Should Worry the US and Taiwan — Karishma Vaswani

Guess Where Harvard’s Private Equity Will Likely End Up — Nir Kaissar

Jony Ive and OpenAI Make a Long-Shot Bet to Kill the iPhone — Dave Lee

The Bond Market Is Getting Awfully ‘Yippy’ Again — Robert Burgess

The Great Era of Metro Railways Is Just Beginning — David Fickling

Florida's Real Estate Strength Is Turning Into a Weakness — Jonathan Levin

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