Spain royal family follows public sector wage cut
Spain's King Juan Carlos and his family are to take a pay cut following a recent bitterly contested cut to public sector wages, the royal palace says.
The king will lose 20,900 euros (£16,400; $25,660) from his salary of just over 292,000 euros for the year - a cut of 7.1%.
In total, the 8.3m euro royal budget will be cut by 100,000 euros in 2012.
Public sector workers have been outraged by a recent announcement that Christmas pay is to be cut.
The bonuses saw public sector workers paid double their usual salaries in December, and their removal equates to a cut of about 7%.
Police and firefighters are among those who have taken to the streets in recent days to denounce the cuts - the latest austerity measures imposed by the government amid a steep economic downturn.
The reputation of the once-revered king was damaged in April when it emerged he had been on a lavish hunting trip to Botswana at a time when one in four Spaniards is unemployed.
His son and heir, Prince Felipe, will lose about 10,450 euros from his salary - also about 7.1% - putting him on an annual wage of about 131,000 euros, said palace sources.
But the gesture has received a mixed reception on websites and social media, with some quipping that the royal family might now struggle to make ends meet.