Dutch republicans aiming to cut monarch’s salary

DUTCH republicans will today launch a campaign to cut the salary of the next monarch to a fraction of the €850,000 (about £725,000) that they say Queen Beatrix now receives.

Campaigners for the New Republican Fellowship pressure group are collecting signatures to force a parliamentary debate on a motion that would cut the new king’s salary to €150,000, bringing it into line with the prime minister’s wages.

Prince Willem-Alexander, 45, will succeed his mother as head of state when she abdicates on 30 April after 33 years.

Queen Beatrix, 75, is popular and the republican movement is very much a minority, but republicans believe that the queen’s tax-free salary is a weak point for monarchists.

“We are asked to live more simply and save money, but the queen isn’t part of that deal, she does what she likes,” said Hans Maessen, head of the campaign. “She is very rich, she earns a lot of money, she doesn’t pay taxes.”