Why is this important?

Republic's YouGov poll showed that 66% of the British public were not interested in Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, and 57% believed the Royals should have paid the full cost of the wedding, including the cost of policing and security.

76% of Brits said they wouldn't want to have contributed their own taxes to the wedding if they had a choice.



Eugenie carries out no royal duties and there is little public interest in another royal wedding - even the BBC has chosen not to broadcast it - yet the royals are forcing another costly wedding upon us.

A royal wedding is a private, personal event, dressed up as a national occasion. That lets the royals use weddings as PR exercises and to expect the taxpayer will pay a large part of the costs.

What will the wedding cost us?

In 2011, the Financial Times found that Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding actually "held back growth", it wasn’t the boost to the economy the press often claimed.

Prince William and Kate's wedding is estimated to have cost taxpayers over £24 million and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding in May is estimated to have cost taxpayers over £35 million.

Early estimates suggest Eugenie's wedding will cost over £2 million in security costs alone.

Eugenie has chosen to wed in the same venue, to invite same number of guests and follow the same procession around Windsor that Harry and Meghan did in May. We’re told this wedding will be cheaper than the last one, but it’s shaping up to look more like a £35 million extravaganza than a wedding fit for a minor royal.

Who is paying?

The exact details of royal wedding funding are shrouded in secrecy, but we do know - at the very least - that expensive road closures and policing will be required. And we know local councils and the taxpayer will end up footing the bill.

Freedom of Information requests showed the Department of Culture Media and Sport spent £1.5 million on Harry and Meghan's wedding, money that could have been used to benefit the public.

Thames Valley Police have struggled to estimate the costs of policing Harry and Meghan's wedding. The spend now, think later attitude to royal security is costing the public millions, and we'll likely see fewer police officers as a result.

Taxpayers should not be funding a private wedding, no matter who is getting married.

If the royals want to turn Eugenie and Jack's big day into a public event, they need to pick up the bill – all of it.

The Palace claims the wedding will be funded by the royal family, but royal funding blurs the lines between private income and public money. So, whether it's the cost of policing paid for directly by us, or costs of the wedding ceremony, paid for by the royals, the taxpayer still ends up paying.

If the royal family funds another wedding through the ill-gotten gains of a broken system of royal funding, then we have a right to know where that money is coming from and what it’s being spent on.

Taxpayers have the right to know

In May, parliament and the government ignored calls to withhold public money from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding.

At a time of great strain on public spending and a rising cost of living, this is an opportunity for MPs to demand the highest possible standards of openness and transparency around the wedding finances.

If the royals want to turn another private wedding into a public PR exercise, they need to pay. The taxpayer needs to know who is funding what, where the money is coming from and the impact the wedding will have on local and police budgets.

This petition calls upon the House of Commons to urge the Government to ensure the highest standards of openness and transparency relating to the funding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's wedding, commit no public funds to the wedding and to publish a report of all costs to taxpayers.