LONDON – What do you get for a monarch who has almost everything? Not, apparently, a new yacht, at least not one paid for with taxpayer funds.

That was the message Monday as a brief boomlet of support for the idea of providing Queen Elizabeth II with a new royal yacht to mark her Diamond Jubilee was quickly deflated by Prime Minister David Cameron.

It is estimated that a new yacht would cost at least $92 million.

Cameron’s spokesman Steve Field said it would not be appropriate for public funds to be spent on a new yacht during times of economic hardship.

But he said the government would be supportive of private efforts to provide a new ship for the queen.

He acknowledged that ministers have been approached over plans to raise donations for a privately funded vessel and that the government “would react favorably” to a firm plan.

“There are a number of proposals out there for a privately financed yacht,” Field said.

“I don’t think anyone is suggesting public money should be used for this,” Field told reporters Monday.

“There is a difficult economic situation, there are scarce public resources, therefore we don’t think it would be an appropriate use of public money.”

The idea of a new royal yacht was proposed by Education Secretary Michael Gove.

He suggested in a leaked letter that the queen should receive a replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia.

The yacht was decommissioned in 1997 after 44 years as a floating royal residence known to have been cherished by the queen.

He said the jubilee offers a “tremendous opportunity to recognize in a very fitting way the queen’s highly significant contribution to the life of the nation and the Commonwealth.”

The ship sprang a leak earlier in January, requiring repair work.

It is not clear if the queen even wants a new yacht.

Keith Urban benefit show postponed

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Keith Urban has rescheduled a benefit concert for April 10.

He had to postpone the third annual “All For The Hall” Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum fundraiser in Nashville on Jan. 18 because he’s still recovering from having a polyp removed from a vocal cord late last year.

His first return to the stage since mid-November is expected to be on the Feb. 3 Grand Ole Opry.

Hall of fame members Vince Gill and Alabama, and Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert’s Pistol Annies, Rascal Flatts, Alison Krauss & Union Station, The Band Perry, Thompson Square and others will perform in the benefit concert along with Urban.

Tickets go on sale Jan. 27. He’s raised about $1 million so far.

Wahlberg’s ‘Contraband’ tops box office

LOS ANGELES – Mark Wahlberg had the biggest opening of his career as an action star this weekend, as his crime thriller “Contraband” was the No. 1 pick at the box office.

The film about the ugly world of drug smuggling was the most popular movie over the four-day Martin Luther King holiday weekend, grossing a solid $28.8 million domestically, according to an estimate from distributor Universal Pictures.

Meanwhile, the classic animated fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast,” first released in 1991 and now in 3-D, collected a respectable $23.5 million over the long weekend. The faith-based musical “Joyful Noise,” the weekend’s third debut, trailed with a lackluster $13.8 million. It was a good weekend at the box office overall, as ticket sales were up roughly 4 percent this year compared with the same period in 2011.

In “Contraband,” a remake of the Icelandic hit “Reykjavik-Rotterdam,” Wahlberg stars as a reformed con man who finds himself pulled back into a life of crime.

– From news service reports