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King Charles’ €500K lobster dinner blows hole in French presidency’s budget (www.politico.eu)

submitted 3 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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A decadent dinner costing nearly €475,000 for the U.K.’s King Charles III helped push France’s Élysée Palace — the office of President Emmanuel Macron —to a record high deficit last year.

France’s love for grand gestures and opulent dining are fully in evidence in the pages of a damning yearly audit of the Élysée’s budget, released on Monday by the Cour des Comptes, France’s top audit court.

The Élysée’s spending, which includes costs related to the president’s diplomatic and presidential duties as well as administration, personnel, security and estate management, reached a whopping €125 million, plunging the books €8.3 million into the red.

Among the biggest deficit drivers were two luxurious state dinners, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and King Charles III.

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[-] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 11 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

the national average cost of a wedding in 2023 was $35,000

Source.

The average American wedding cost $29,000 in 2023.

Source.

The average cost of a wedding is $33,000 in 2024.

Source.

I assume that these estimates are based on different datasets, and my guess is that they're biased upwards, but they do roughly match what I know from personal experience.

[-] TaTTe@lemmy.world 17 points 3 months ago

The issue with these statistics is that they look at the average, which is heavily boosted by the exceptionally expensive weddings of the higher upper-class. The median is significantly lower.

https://silkstemcollective.com/median-and-average-wedding-cost/

Also I'm not American, maybe people there just spend a lot more on weddings in general than what I'm used to.

[-] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

You're correct, but even the median (with inflation) is still probably over $20,000 right now (based on the assumptions that it was $18,000 in 2019 and 2020 is not representative). I think my broader point still stands.

I know a person currently planning a relatively small wedding, and she's trying very hard to save money. One cost-cutting measure was booking a space on the fourth floor of a building without an elevator. (She asked me whether or not it would be possible for strong guests to carry elderly guests up the stairs.) Her budget is still $10,000.

this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2024

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