Taxpayers hand over £10.95 per second to the monarchy - meaning the royals 'earned' the average UK salary by 00:43 on 1st January 2018.



This makes royals the biggest fat-cats of them all, according to campaign group Republic. At £19.1m per year, each royal receives 670 times the average UK worker.



The claims follow 2017's 'Fat Cat Wednesday' where FTSE100 bosses were shamed for earning the average UK salary by the 4th of January.



Republic's CEO has said in response to these figures:



"This money isn't just spent on official work, it funds a lavish and privileged lifestyle for the entirely royal family."



"This makes the monarchy hugely expensive for what it is. To provide Britain with one head of state we hand over more than £10 a second every minute of every day."



"The taxpayer should not be funding private travel, accommodation or trips abroad for the royals. This abuse of taxpayers' money has to stop."



"Royal funding is out of control - there needs to be a full inquiry into the way the royals' spend taxpayers' money."



"Republic is calling for the Sovereign Grant to be scrapped and royal funding radically overhauled."



"We all know the cost of the royals isn’t the real issue – it is a symptom of a secretive and unaccountable monarchy."



"The blatant abuse of public money is an opportunity to challenge the monarchy head on, get MPs and media looking more closely at how this archaic institution is no longer fit-for-purpose."



"A fully accountable, elected head of state simply wouldn't get away with this kind of abuse of public funds."



The figures:



The true cost of the royal family is a massive £345m a year. The royals official grant alone has jumped 145% since 2012, from £31m to £76.1m. Add to that costs met by councils, revenue from the Duchies and unpaid tax and you can easily see how the royals cost us so much.



That £345m price tag is enough money to pay for 15,000 new teachers or 15,500 new firefighters. 17,000 new police officers could be put on the beat for the cost of Britain's head of state.



The numbers:



£28,600 - average annual salary

£345,300,000 - cost of monarchy



The monarchy has earned the average salary by 00:43:32 on New Year's Day.



That works out at a cost of £10.95 per second - equivalent to 36½ Cadburys Freddos per second.



Each working royal, costing taxpayers £19.1m per year, has earned the average salary by 12:17:01 on 1st January.



NOTES



You can see Republic's report on royal finances at www.republic.org.uk/what-we-want/royal-finances