Sixty-six English pence would buy me a small loaf of bread, a couple of chocolate bars or just over half a litre of petrol for my car. It is also, as it happens, what Queen Brenda and her dysfunctional family cost me and every other UK taxpayer in the previous financial year.

It is 66 pence too much.

According to Republic – the campaign for an elected head of state in the UK – the £40m total figure for last year included an average cost of £46,000 per train journey, £138,000 for Pip the Greek’s visit to the US, and £18,900 for a night out by the so-called Prince of Wales as part of his ‘The Pub is the Hub’ campaign. Then there is the £415,000 bill for Brenda’s five-day visit to the US.

Yes, I know that one could trot out similar figures for government ministers and other politicians. And some of the expense may have been wasteful. The difference is that politicians serve an at least partly legitimate purpose.