Whenever the public accounts of the Royal family are published, certain voices in Parliament and the press can be relied upon to hold up their hands in horror at the “extravagance”.

The cost of the British Monarchy is put at around £35m a year, a modest figure to fund the Head of State in any country the size of Britain. That number is down from £100m in past years, largely because of the frugality of the Queen’s personal life.

Now we hear that the Duchess of Cornwall cost £566,000 last year, a period which saw Camilla’s wedding to Prince Charles and her launching as a public figure in Royal engagements. Naturally, there’s a fuss from the usual suspects. The Daily Mail, a right of centre newspaper, devotes a double-page spread to the story, written by Camilla’s own biographer, Christopher Wilson. The gripes, half-complaints and hints of a “lavish lifestyle” are all there, presumably to add spice to a humdrum report.

Since the Crown Estates were confiscated by Parliament back in the days of William of Orange, the Monarchy has not had a self-financing income of its own. It depends on grants from Parliament, including the Civil List of around £10m a year.

Isn’t it about time the Royal Estates were handed back to the Queen, with the proviso that the Monarchy finances itself? It would be a far more dignified arrangement.