EDINBURGH’S Royal wedding cost the taxpayer £400,000, it’s been revealed.
Despite being warned to steer clear of the event by palace officials, the public will pick up the bill for policing the streets when Zara Phillips married Mike Tindall at Canongate Kirk in the summer.
The event was more low-key than the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton but still attracted large crowds.
Last night critics said they were “astonished” and “disappointed” that the “private family affair” was costing the public thousands.
Local MSP Sarah Boyack said: “This seems an astonishing amount of money for what was supposed to be a low-key wedding.
“As our capital city,Edinburghneeds extra resourcing to deal with the additional policing required around high profile visits and events.”
A spokeswoman for the Taxpayers’Alliancesaid: “With budgets tight it is disappointing that policing costs for Zara Phillips ran into hundreds of thousands of pounds.
“The public should share some of the costs of policing this event as officers are there for the protection of the public and the Royal Family. However this event was not intended to be a high profile, public event so it is worrying for the taxpayers that the policing bill was so high.”
The streets surrounding the 17th century church, just a stones throw from the Palace of Holyrood House, were closed on July 30 and police were out in force for both the big day and the rehearsal.
The cost of policing Operation Opal – the code name for the nuptials – was revealed in a police report ahead of a board meeting next week.
