Britain ‘s royal family becomes 3rd most expensive in Europe

A new study has revealed the UK monarchy to be only the third most expensive monarchy in Europe following royals in Norway and the Netherlands. According to the study, Norway’s monarchy cost the taxpayer more than £36million, the Dutch royal family more than £34million and Britain’s royals spent £32million of the taxpayer last year. Meanwhile, the cheapest monarchy was in Spain at £6.8 million. The figures were rev­ealed in an annual report on eight monarchies including Sweden, Belgium, Denmark and Luxembourg, compiled by Belgian professor Herman Matthijs. Republicans in the UK will be dismayed to learn that France’s Socialist president Francois Hollande costs almost three times what Britons pay for the Queen, the study put the cost of the French presidency at £91million. Three years ago, it was concluded that the Queen headed the most expensive Royal Family in Europe - but since then other monarchies have been forced to become more transparent about their costs. The study does not include security and other hidden expenses that push the true cost of the Royal Family to more than £200million