Most Brits say King Charles should pay for his own coronation, exclusive poll for Yahoo News reveals

More than half of Brits think King Charles should pay for his own coronation, exclusive polling for Yahoo has found.

Deemed a 'state occasion' the coronation bill is funded by the UK government, and therefore the taxpayer.

The 6 May service and weekend of celebrations have been reported by The Mirror as costing the UK £250m.

In contrast, the late Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1953 cost £1.57m (the publication has reported this as being £47m in today's money) — despite being a far larger and more elaborate ceremony than Charles's will be.

Queen Elizabeth's saw over 8000 guests enter Westminster Abbey for the occasion, while Charles in comparison will have more than 2200.

The procession route was also far longer back in 1953, as was the service itself.

The Mirror report that it is mounting policing costs that have pushed the total bill for Charles's coronation up, but the palace generally do not comment on matters of security so it is unlikely a total figure for this aspect will be made public.

The poll results come amid a debate about the ongoing role of the monarchy in modern society — the cost associated with the Royal Family and their private wealth attracting more scrutiny than ever.

55% of respondents said that Charles should be footing the bill for he coronation himself, 31% disagreed and felt it appropriate the government and taxpayers pay for it and a further 14% replied that they didn't know either way.

Younger people were the least likely to support the government paying for the occasion at only 19% — this support rose to 46% amongst those aged over 65.

There were some regional differences in how people responded to the statement: "King Charles III should pay for his own coronation".

Respondents in Northern Ireland were the most likely to agree with the statement at 67%. Those in Scotland and Wales also agreed strongly at 57% and 59% respectively.

In every region of England — except the South East at 46% — more than half of respondents believed Charles should pay for it himself.

Political affiliation also had an impact on how people responded, although the division was not hugely significant.

SNP voters were the most likely to agree that Charles should have paid for the coronation at 78%, followed by Green Party voters at 68% and Labour voters at 63%.

60% of Brexit Party voters also thought Charles should pay, while amongst Conservative voters this was only 40%.