This week we are re-running some of our favourite episodes. Today in Focus will return with new episodes on Tuesday 2 January 2024.
As Britain was preparing for the coronation of King Charles III, the Guardian’s Maeve McClenaghan and colleagues in the investigations team were chasing the story of what the modern monarchy costs – and how the Windsor family hide their riches from public view.
The hunt to work out exactly how the royal finances work begins with what we know about their public funding. In a deal done with the palace in 2011, the government reformed the funding mechanism for the monarchy and in the process removed the need for a regular debate about the grant they are given. And as McClenaghan discovers, it is not easy to find out exactly what each of the working royals do in return for the generous settlement. So she turns to an unofficial source: a 91-year-old man and his comprehensive scrapbooks that span decades of royal engagements.
Illustration: Doug Chayka
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