Spain royal family follows public sector wage cut

King Juan Carlos, right, and his son Felipe have both roughly matched the public sector wage cuts

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 bonuses are to go.

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.
Mixed reception
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.