AMANDA PLATELL: I’m a loyal monarchist, but how can it be right that the King pays less tax than popstars like Harry Styles? Charles’s tax bill has only raised more questions than answers – and I smell a rat…

Although I am a staunch monarchist and lifelong royal watcher, I’m afraid I don’t buy the word that the royal family is in the clear about their finances.

Amidst a slew of headlines about their decision to ‘never return to Buckingham Palace’, we are also told ‘History is being made as Charles and William reveal tax bills’, ‘King offers transparency on tax status’ and ‘opened the books’.

The front pages continued throughout the front pages about how the King and William wanted to be honest with the public.

But was this truly a historic, shocking development, or was it a sophisticated public relations operation by Buckingham Palace that continues to mask a disturbing truth: royal finances are under wraps and details remain mostly secret?

That’s right, no monarch has ever disclosed his personal tax bill. Very nice, God Save the King etc. as he tells us he is paying £12.9m in 2024-25.

However, this statement raises more questions than answers. And I smell a mouse.

The income on which the king owes taxes has not yet been disclosed. We do not know the earnings of his private estate from financial and property investments. We have no idea how much he deducted from the Duchy of Lancaster’s income, which is around £25 million, for official expenses.

King Charles’ personal fortune is said to be around £680 million – but if ownership of the 45,000-acre Duchy of Lancaster and his vast collection of royal treasures are factored in, some estimates put his net worth at close to £2 billion.

Harry Styles paid £24.7 million in taxes, almost double what Charles paid. But the singer’s fortune is around £235 million, less than half the King’s personal fortune

Things get even darker when we learn how much other rich people paid.

Singer Harry Styles, for example, paid £24.7 million in tax, nearly twice as much as the King. But the pop superstar is still worth around £235 million, less than half the King’s personal fortune.

Well done Harry! So why does King Charles pay so much less than him? Why is such a paltry tax levied on his huge fortune when a pop star is paid twice as much? I’m sorry, but none of this makes any sense.

And the funny thing is that the massive media attack on Charles paying his taxes (which was orchestrated by the Palace) came at a time when support for the monarchy was declining. Not just because of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and his corrosive influence on the institution, but also because of the growing awareness and anger – particularly among Gen Z young people – about the privileges that members of the Royal Family enjoy at the expense of taxpayers.

Frankly, it was a laugh-out-loud moment when the King tried to be tough on his subjects to show that he paid his dues just like the rest of us.

When it comes to leaving Buckingham Palace, why should the public be worried about King Charles and Queen Camilla or Prince William and Princess Catherine, despite the fact that they have allocated £370 million for the palace’s renovation?

There are many other options for living arrangements. Crikey, William and Charles own or are in trust for a property portfolio comprising at least seven palaces, ten castles, 12 manor houses and 56 country houses, estimated at £19 billion.

The truth is that the Royal Family still lives an extremely privileged lifestyle with unimaginable wealth; We are not told all of this.

And although Buckingham Palace has tried to embellish this with the King’s apparent tax details, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to justify as many ordinary taxpayers struggle to get by.

Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband Peter Murrell has been left furious that Mickey Mouse misappropriated SNP funds after buying Le Creuset ramekins. Many still ask why he didn’t question them. What wife doesn’t notice her husband buying a Mickey Mouse ramekin? But there is nothing as strange as the public anymore.

After 81-year-old Rod Stewart nearly fainted on stage in Utah and had to use an oxygen tank to finish the concert, I have a message for him – with apologies to the songwriter: ‘Roddie, wake up, I think I have something to tell you. ‘When the spotlight shines on your face it really shows your age.’

Go home Rod, enjoy your well-deserved and much-needed retirement. You couldn’t try any further.

Supergirl? That stupid Milly

Amid disastrous worldwide criticism, 26-year-old actress Milly Alcock describes her new Supergirl movie heroine as a character who ‘doesn’t live in a binary’ based on gender expectations.

He adds that the film focuses on a modern, independent woman rather than being defined by a romance or male lead, and that Supergirl “will probably go either way.”

Whatever happens next, does Superman identify as a woman?

This isn’t an LGBTQ lesson, it’s the love of one superhero franchise.

Famous for her ultra-tight outfits, seductive Killing Eve star Jodie Comer reveals her dazzlingly gorgeous abs in a braless, cut-out dress at a Summer Solstice party.

In a more reflective moment, Jodie said: ‘My dream, and it’s manifesting here, is to have a space where I can be in just my underwear, gardening.’ Of course, if you have underwear!

Killing Eve star Jodie Comer arrived at the Summer Solstice party, showing off her abs in a braless, cut-out dress

Westminster Wars

As Andy Burnham headed to Parliament to be sworn in as an MP and unofficially crowned as the next Prime Minister, there were plenty of questions as he posed for a group selfie with hundreds of job-seeking lapdog Labor MPs.

Why was he filmed surrounded by a group of gorgeous blondes arriving on foot at Manchester Piccadilly station in her trademark black T-shirt and ripped jeans, as a chauffeur took him there in a Mercedes?

Is it a sign of things to come when Kemi Badenoch thinks it’s funny to post a video of herself when she mocks Andy for ‘a pair of eyelashes and a black t-shirt’ and says: ‘It’s actually navy blue.’ Oh, how we laughed!

THThe heatwave reminds me of my childhood in Perth. When the temperature reached 90F, we were allowed to turn the TV into the parking lot so we could sit outside and watch the TV. If the temperature reached 100F, my two brothers and I were allowed to sleep outside on wet towels on the grass while Mom and Dad stayed inside. What would social services say to this today?

An NHS betrayal

It’s cold comfort for still-grieving families affected by the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust’s maternity care scandal; The investigation concluded that 500 mothers or babies were needlessly killed or injured. The Foundation was run by arrogant men who refused to listen to their concerns.

It took 16 years for this scandal to be revealed but not a single NHS boss was sacked.

Now we have learned that three of them have even been honored with CBEs.

Katie’s chaos and kindness

While she was promoting the four-part Sky series ‘Katie Price: I’ve Got Nothing to Hide’, it was heartbreaking to see what a glamorous Page Three Girl celebrity she is.

Especially considering her marriage to spiv ‘husband’ Lee Andrews and the fact that her constant surgery makes her look like a weird gargoyle. However, let’s give some credit to Katie, who is now 48 years old. He doesn’t care what anyone thinks.

She was a warrior, a survivor, and in the midst of the utter chaos of her life, she cared for her severely disabled son, Harvey, with touching compassion.

In 1999 (L), Katie was a glamorous Page Three Girl celebrity. It looks so different now (R)

During the US investigation into Epstein, Microsoft founder Bill Gates revealed that he had three affairs while married to his ex-wife Melinda: flings with a Russian bridge star, a Russian nuclear expert and a Harvard doctor. Oh dear, doesn’t this cowardly nerd realize that without his billions he’d be lucky enough to take an overweight prostitute on a Moscow dive?

So much for repealing Prime Minister Starmer’s ‘legacy’ law – a social media ban on under-16s based on the Australian model. In Oz, reports show that four in five children have found a way around the rules and are still accessing harmful content.

An abysmal failure, like the Premiership.

Cheryl’s maternal love

Good for Girls Aloud star Cheryl Tweedy, former partner of One Direction’s Liam Payne, for insisting their nine-year-old son Bear should not inherit a penny of the £21million his late father left him until he is at least 25.

‘Inheriting this much money at a young age is enough to send anyone astray,’ he says.

Regards to Cheryl. The last thing Bear wants is to end up like his famous father, rich but lonely and addicted to drugs, before fatally falling from a Buenos Aires hotel balcony when he was just 31 years old.

Preston Davey’s murderer and sexual abuser Jamie Varley is in HMP Wakefield prison, where Lostprophets singer and child sex offender Ian Watkins was stabbed to death.

Horrified, Varley wails: ‘I’m going to end up like Ian Watkins.’ Forgive me for not being a Christian, but I really hope so.