UK hospitals and universities snub offer of free King Charles portrait - Is the monarchy in crisis?

Beat the system with TallyMoney. Gold you can spend. Discover more here:

https://click.tallymoney.com/A64P/df08xa5e #ad

The overwhelming majority of universities and hospitals in the country snubbed the Government's offer of a free portrait of the King shortly after his coronation in 2023, GB News can reveal.

Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, blamed the poor take-up of the £131 picture of the King on managers in the public sector who were unnecessarily worried that people would be offended.

"All of this rubbish needs to stop," she told GB News' Chopper's Political Podcast, adding: "We should not be afraid of the word 'patriotism'. It's important."

Under the voluntary programme - called His Majesty's Portrait Scheme - 20,500 portraits of the King were sent to public bodies across the UK from November 2023 to August 2024, costing £2.7million.

In all take up among all eligible public bodies was just 30.6 per cent, with just 2.8 per cent of hospitals and 7.4 per cent of universities asking for a free portrait of Charles III.

The portrait proved more popular among schools - where 29.1 per cent signed up to the scheme - Church of England churches (25.5 per cent) and Coroner's Courts (100 per cent).

Asked about the findings on GB News' Chopper's Political Podcast, Mrs Badenoch said managers were overly worried about people who might be offended by an image of the King.

The purchase of gold and investment in bullion is not FCA regulated nor do they benefit from the protections of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or the Financial Ombudsman Service. The value of your investment can go down as well as up. Consider the risks involved before choosing to invest. This card is issued by Transact Payments Limited pursuant to licence by Mastercard International Incorporated.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.