Royal Watch News

King Juan Carlos to take pay cut

Jul 18, 2012, 12:01 GMT

King Juan Carlos

Spain's King Juan Carlos is taking a pay cut.

The monarch and his son Crown Prince Felipe are to see their salaries cut by around 7 per cent, to 272,000 euro and 131,000 euro respectively, in line with new austerity measures, the Royal Palace has announced.

The royals' wives Queen Sofia and Princess Letizia do not receive salaries but have had their expenses cut.

The royal family's budget for this year is around 8.3 million euro, a two per cent cut on 2011.

Specific details were not given, but the budget cuts to the royals came a year after 2011 reductions of 5 per cent overall with palace employees, including the king, seeing their salaries cut by up to 15 per cent.

The royals voluntarily cut their salaries, the palace said.

The measures are part of Spain's moves to convince investors there is a strategy to deal with public finances and the country's banks, which are being bailed out with up to 100 billion euro from the 16 other countries that use the euro.

The pay cuts came months after Juan Carlos sparked national fury when he went on an elephant-hunting excursion to Africa, which cost an estimated $47,796 per person.