Who Paid for London Hotel for Trumps Family , Security and Staff

LONDON — There's something comfortably retro about the British regal family. No matter the geopolitical or domestic turmoil, you can count on them to be there, lurching from one scandal to the next.

It's a lesson that Donald Trump seems to take taken to eye — with the U.S. president's sometimes glamorous, sometimes goofy, never-not-scandalous first family unit traipsing later him to global summits and land visits.

The trouble is that maintaining bevvies of VIPs tin can be expensive — peculiarly as economies threaten to turn sour. Whether the cost is worth the benefit isn't always clear, even so, as neither the U.Southward. nor the U.K. is terribly transparent when it comes to funding their first families.

Below, POLITICO takes a stab at tallying up the price tag for the British royals and the presidential brood, and dishes each family a Sponger rating for how much they're costing the taxpayer.

The royals

The scandals swirling around the royals in recent months have focused on Prince Andrew's connections to the belatedly billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, and Harry and Meghan's utilize of private planes while lecturing the residual of us about climatic change.

Members of the British purple family, from left: Princess Eugenie of York; Princess Beatrice of York; Camilla, duchess of Cornwall; Catherine, duchess of Cambridge; Meghan, duchess of Sussex; Prince Harry, duke of Sussex; Peter Phillips, Autumn Phillips, Isla Phillips and Savannah Phillips | Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images

Both raise a similar question: To what extent should taxpayers option upward the tab for minor royals?

The queen herself is funded through the £82.2-million-a-year Sovereign Grant, which came to about £1.24 per taxpayer in the last financial yr. She uses this for the upkeep of all her palaces (including the £two.iv million renovation of Harry and Meghan's pad, Frogmore Cottage), also as her staffing and travel costs.

Xv other senior royals are largely financed by two slush funds set up by King Edward 3 in the 14th Century: the Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster. With vastly valuable holdings of residential and agronomical land, their combined income terminal year stood at £43.3 1000000.

Then in that location's the cost of police force protection, covering not only the Fab 16 but also some of their children, including such lesser figures as Andrew's daughters, princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, ninth and tenth in line to the throne respectively.

The exact upkeep for guarding the royals is not public, only in 2017 it was estimated the Royalty and Specialist Protection Team — also responsible for guarding government ministers and strange dignitaries — had running costs of £128 million.

Prince George, who appears to have had quite enough of the King'due south Loving cup regatta, hosted by his parents in August | Splash News via Belga

Following criticism of expensive royal travel — including some £126,000 charged to the taxpayer for protecting Princess Eugenie during her gap year to Asia, America and Africa — it was reported that the younger members of the family were being urged to ditch the Imperial Railroad train and individual jets in favor of budget travel.

William and Kate at least seem to accept got the memo: Last month the knuckles and duchess of Cambridge and their family unit boarded a £73.05 Flybe flight from Norwich to Aberdeen.

This was interpreted as a delicious deed of trolling by the parents-of-three, coming as it did after William'south blood brother Harry suggested it was an eco-crime to accept more than than 2 children before dashing off for the first of four journeys by individual jet. A grateful and greenbacks-strapped nation saluted the thrifty couple, while pouring contemptuousness on the newlyweds.

POLITICO'due south Sponger Rating: 9.5 / ten

Would accept been 10 if not for William and Kate'southward Flybe flight.

The Trumps

When it comes to salaries, the Trump family unit is cheap compared with the British majestic family. Presidential bounty has remained the same since 2001 at $400,000 a yr, along with a $l,000 expense assart, $100,000 travel account and $19,000 entertainment budget. Kickoff lady Melania Trump draws no bacon, simply her ain support staff costs nigh $500,000 a yr. The pair live at the White House for free forth with their teenage son, Barron.

The president's girl Ivanka and her married man Jared Kushner, both employed as senior White House advisers, also describe no salary.

The only Trump offspring who lives with the president and start lady at the White Business firm is their thirteen-year-old son Barron | Pool photograph past Chris Kleponis via Getty Images

So, are Americans actually getting a good deal? Not quite.

Every bit with the British royals, the real strain on the public purse comes from keeping up with the itchy feet of young, energetic VIPs who are at best vulnerable and at worst a hostage situation waiting to happen.

Flying teams of bodyguards effectually the world is proving particularly pricey in the case of the Trump administration. The president has 5 children, four of whom are adults, three with children of their own, leading to a total of eighteen family members entitled to protection.

The full toll of guarding the Trump children and grandchildren is not available, however breakdowns for some individual trips have been released past the Government Accountability Role at the asking of Congress, giving us a glimpse into the sums involved.

For example, we know that Trump's decision to invite his developed children to accompany him on his state visit to the U.K. in June cost taxpayers $three.v million and that his frequent trips to his Florida resort of Mar-a-Lago each come with a similar price tag, at around $iii.4 million per visit.

More broadly, Trump's lack of enthusiasm for the White House is costing U.S. taxpayers dearly. Past October, he will take racked upward 1,000 days in role, nearly 300 of which have been spent at his own properties, and more than 200 at golf resorts. In May, information technology was reported that the U.S. regime had spent $102 million to facilitate presidential rounds of golf, including $threescore,000 on renting golf carts for the secret service to trail forth behind him in one year solitary.

Every bit with the pocket-sized royals, it's the personal travel past bottom Trumps that is the most heart-catching.

Donald Trump and his family unit on stage celebrating his election-night victory in 2016. From left: Barron and Melania Trump, Jared Kushner, Ivanka, Tiffany and Vanessa Trump; Donald Trump, Jr., Eric Trump and Lara Yunaska | Mark Wilson/Getty Images

A November 2018 business trip by Donald Trump, Jr. to India, where he sought to sell a family condominium, set taxpayers back nearly $100,000. When the president's youngest daughter Tiffany visited Serbia in March information technology cost $23,000; two months after she spent a weekend at the Cannes Film Festival. The toll tag: $nineteen,000.

Thanks to Trump's international property portfolio, his companies frequently make money off his family's trips to his backdrop. In Feb 2017, for example, Donald Jr., Eric and Tiffany Trump all travelled to Vancouver to open a new Trump hotel; the cost of putting upward the undercover service at the Trump International Hotel and Belfry Vancouver was $20,000.

Information technology was non long afterward that, in August, that the head of the cloak-and-dagger service warned that the bureau is at risk of running out of money due to the strain of protecting the all-encompassing Trump family.

Politico'due south Sponger Rating: 9/10

The Trumps certainly share the royals' love of lavishness and carelessness about public funds. But the U.Southward. has i big advantage. Presidencies last four to eight years, and Trump'southward family unit members will lose their protection equally soon as he leaves office (Trump himself will continue to receive underground service protection for another 10 years). Unlike the Brits, U.S. taxpayers won't be stuck paying the showtime family's bills forever. Unless Ivanka runs for president. Or Barron marries Princess Charlotte …

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Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/who-costs-taxpayers-more-the-trumps-or-the-british-royals-monarchy-us-president-donald-trump-queen-elizabeth-ii/