Britons Tire of Royalty’s Cost, Poll Says

Most Britons believe that the Royal Family should no longer be supported by taxpayers, according to a nationwide poll released Sunday.

Reflecting broad dissatisfaction with the monarchy’s financial benefits, the poll by the Sunday Observer showed that nearly three-fourths of those surveyed wish to drop state support for the Royal Family, which receives $15 million a year to cover expenses incurred during official duties.

Queen Elizabeth II decided in April to join other Britons in paying income tax, and she has opened up her London home, Buckingham Palace, to tourists to help pay for fire damage to another residence, Windsor Castle. But the poll suggests that these moves have not quelled criticism of public financing of the royals.

The queen is reportedly one of the richest women in the world, with widely scattered holdings and investments.

According to the poll, young people are strongest in the belief that the royals should pay their own way--but also quickest to blame the media for the Royal Family’s problems.

Other findings include:

* Two-thirds of respondents prefer to keep the monarch as head of state, but the Royal Family ranked only third among British institutions to be trusted, rating only 32% behind the church with 54% and the police with 44%. The police, despite scandals of corruption and false arrest, ran well ahead in trust ratings over the judicial system, which polled only 23%, suggesting that the courts are getting more blame for the recent controversies.

* Sixty-four percent of those polled blame the Royal Family’s personal troubles on the media, while only 37% blame the family itself. The family has been battered by the marital separations of the queen’s sons, Prince Charles and Prince Andrew.

* Support for Prince Charles’ accession to the throne fell in the last six months from 67% to 56%; opponents to his accession rose from one-quarter to one-third. Many respondents appear to want the crown to bypass Charles in favor of his son William.

* If Charles does become king, only 31% of those polled believe that Princess Diana, estranged from her husband, should become queen.