Prince William And Duchess Kate’s Visit To Canada Cost Canadian Taxpayers A Whole Lot Of Money

November 8, 2016 / Posted by:

Back in September, Duchess Kate and Prince William flew to Canada with Prince George and Princess Charlotte for a week of waving (or not), and smiling. I’m sure a rejected Justin Trudeau didn’t forget. Vice decided to find out how much the royals’ hoser getaway cost the taxpayers of Canada. As it turns out, it cost a lot of money.

Thanks to an access to information request, Vice found out that the bill for Will and Kate’s trip rang up at $855,600 CAD (£506,000, or about $641,000 USD). That works out to about $122,229 CAD a day. Clearly Will and Kate went with a budget travel agent for this visit; the last time Will and Kate visited Canada in 2011, it cost $1.2 million.

Will and Kate and the kids visited one province and one territory (British Columbia and the Yukon). Vice got the actual breakdown of what was spent where, and it looks like they spent a lot of money on a whole bunch of random stuff which includes:

A unspecified gift from Justin Trudeau to the royal family: $500
An unspecified “legacy gift“: $2000
A gift to two charities from the Canadian government to commemorate their tour: $100,000
Media room rentals and travel: $200,000
Official royal family photographer: $200,000
Photo album and group photos: $5000
Random translation stuff: $40,000
Accommodations for royal family staff, security, and drivers: $50,000
Royal family per diem: $16,000
Float plane and boat rentals: $55,000
A reception in Vancouver: $20,000
Royal family cellphones: $40

Canada’s Department of National Defense apparently covered the cost of Will and Kate’s flight from London to Canada and back, but it doesn’t say how much those flights cost.

Will and Kate were reportedly running up a tab in Canada before they even stepped off the plane. Vice says royal family staff made three visits to the west coast to check it out and make sure it was up to their standards. Those three visits cost a total of $160,450. BC and the Yukon are picking up about $15,000 each of the tab. The rest will be covered by Canadian taxpayers. Great. I’m already up to my ass in taxes, and now I’m going to have to pay more. If you need to reach me at any time, just follow the sound of the girl trying to make a little cash by offering $20 for a discrete “maple dip.

Obviously $855,600 is way too much money to spend on bringing Canada’s do-nothing cousins over to visit for a week. But I’d appreciate a more thorough breakdown of those expenses. I mean, a $16,000 per diem? What the hell were they spending $16,000 on? Did Prince George pick out an orca at Stanley Park and get it shipped home in a private jet? Unless they were spending $16,000 on legal BC weed – which is the only acceptable reason to spend $16,000 in BC – I want to see the receipts.

Pic: Splash

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