The Queen Needs A Raise

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jun 30th 2009 at 1:36AM

This year not too many people are looking for pay raises but the Queen of England may need to ask for a bit of a financial boost. The Queen of England could need an additional £4 million a year to make repairs on Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and St James's Palace. Reports revealed that the royal family spent £6.5 million on travel much of that on private jets to various locales. One of the surprising costs is the £300,000 the Queen spent to relaunch her website.

This year's annual publication of the cost of the monarchy found a less receptive audience than usual as many people have been experiencing a diminishing of their own fortunes in the past year. Some have called for the monarchy to open the palaces up and sell tickets for tours in order to make more money for their expenses. In an article in The Guardian, Richard Bacon MP, who sits on the Commons public accounts committee, said that if the White House could be open for most of the year then Buckingham Palace could be too. This year, Buckingham Palace will be open from the end of July until the end of September.

Sir Alan Reid, keeper of the privy purse, defended the family, pointing out the fact that the Queen attended 400 engagements last year. He pointed out that the money each taxpayer pays to subsidize the Queen in her role as head of state works out to around 69 pence (around $1.15) per person. The spokesman for the anti-monarchy group Republic called this technique of justifying the expense a way of spinning the truth. While the Queen did not decided to go through with plans for a new private jet, the Royal Family will be taking possession of a new Sikorsky helicopter this summer.

There's no doubt that homes need regular upkeep and homes of great size and age requires a great deal of money for upkeep. This is why older families in England have been selling off estates for years to those with deeper pockets. The queen gets £7.9 million pounds of public money each year for basic expenses including staff costs and she also has a reserve fund built up by saving her budget but the cost of living and the cost of upkeep is mounting higher than her savings. The queen is expected to negotiate her budget next year and ask for a funding increase. If she continues to draw from her reserve fund she could deplete it by 2012.

Tags: england, queen elizabeth, QueenElizabeth

Filed under: Wealth

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

C.K. Dexter-Haven Jun 30th 2009 6:55AM

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.

jacob Jun 30th 2009 12:25PM

I think a garage sale is in order!

just me Jun 30th 2009 2:38PM

The Queen should have the money she needs. If the homes were allowed to go into private hands, that would be a great loss to the nation.

Victor Jul 1st 2009 4:25PM

Why UK still insists with this monarchy crap?
Retire the queen please and elect a president!
What a big waste of public money.

Jessi Jul 2nd 2009 3:13PM

Seriously, aren't there ways to cut back on spending without asking for a glorified bailout? I don't support refinancing the wealthy, even if it is the Queen, when the broad majority of citizens are reeling from the recession and can't afford the same luxuries.
Many people have an opinion on this:
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Zorbski Aug 11th 2009 3:18PM

I think she and all the rest of her interbred swivel eyed neo nazi family have a bloody cheek asking for more money. They are loaded beyond most peoples wildest dreams and a good days work would see most of them off!!!