PUBLIC fury was almost as hot as the flames which gutted Windsor Castle five years ago when it was suggested they should pick up the multi-million-pound restoration bill.
Now, with the renovation splendidly complete, an important piece of the nation's heritage is returned to the country - for which most people will be grateful.
They will, however, also be grateful that most of the £37million repair bill was not handed to them after all, but came from entrance fees at Buckingham Palace and savings on government grants.
For it was rich in the first place that the country was ever expected to pay for the mending of what it also regards as someone else's private home as much as its own heritage - and the royal family was right to respond as it did by having the money found from elsewhere.
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