Kate MiddletonMark Cuthbert/UK Press/Press Association Images

Those who have a problem with the Royals being funded by the taxpayer should look away now - because Kate Middleton has been given a bonus. The good news is that it was a £300,000 thank you from Buckingham Palace for boosting its business - so it's not being paid by the taxpayer.

So what's going on, and is it fair?

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The bonus

The Duchess of Cambridge received the money from the Palace as thanks for donating her wedding dress to put on display there during the summer season. Interest in the dress - and the wedding in general - has boosted the number of visitors to the Palace dramatically. More than £10 million was spent on tickets this year - up £3.5 million from last year.

More to the point, visitors were splashing out at the gift shop too - now there is a new range of commemorative mugs to stock up on. According to the Telegraph the gift shop took £3.87 million - which was up £1.7 million from last year. Of that 75% of all sales were for Wills and Kate or Jubilee memorabilia.

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Clearly the middle class princess is a money spinner.

As its way of saying thank you, the Palace has given her a bonus of £300,000 - which she has immediately donated to charity.

Is it fair?

On the one hand, it's a bonus for someone who has clearly changed the fortunes of an institution. That's a refreshing change from the old approach of 'paying someone for showing up and doing the job they are already very well paid for' that we have got used to in the banking sector.

On the other hand, you could argue that she's already receiving enough from the taxpayer to get by on - and she immediately gave this money away - so perhaps the money may have been better spent being refunded to the taxpayers who pay the royal bills.

Charity

The charity she donated the money to would heartily disagree. It has now adopted her as a patron too - so everyone's a winner. The charitable trust set up by Prince William and Harry has now been renamed the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.

The fund, which gives money in three areas: the armed forces, young people and conservation, has also benefited dramatically from the Duchess's arrival. The fact that the couple asked for all wedding presents to be given to the charity netted them just over £1 million - and all the attention lavished on the couple during the period attracted a total income for the year of £4.8 million - compared to £629,000 the year before.

So what do you think? Is it great news that we have a new ambassador for the country who happens to be a dab hand at attracting cash, or would you rather see the Duchess put to work raising cash to fund the Royals altogether, so the taxpayer can keep their hard-earned cash? Let us know in the comments.

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