BuckinghamPalace

Whisky Bottles Given as Gifts by the Queen Classified as a Matter of National Security

Filed under: Spirits, Celebrity Shopping

Every year, Queen Elizabeth II awards miniature bottles of whisky to the guards at her estate in Sandringham. And we'd be telling you more about them – what kind, how much they're worth, how many she hands out annually – if not for a blanket classification issued on the subject by local police. That's right, the bottles of scotch handed out by the Queen are considered a matter of national security.

According to Norfolk police, if they divulged how many bottles were distributed, it would give away how many guards are stationed there. And if Al-Qaeda found out, it would make it easier for them to kidnap members of the royal family. That might seem like an extreme measure of paranoia, but not in the context of break-ins at royal residences in recent history. Aside from terrorism, one man infiltrated Buckingham Palace in 1982, the Queen awaking to find him sitting on her bed. Ten ears later a man was arrested on the premises twice, while another intruder broke into St. James Palace and had himself a scotch. Two years later, a drunken man knocked on Princess Anne's door to ask for directions to the railway station. The embarrassing intrusions have left local police on high alert to prevent further incidents, hence the refusal to disclose details of the whisky distribution. And there you have it.

[Source: The Daily Mail]

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Tags: buckingham palace, BuckinghamPalace, queen, queen elizabeth, queen elizabeth ii, QueenElizabeth, QueenElizabethIi, royal gift, RoyalGift, sandringham, scotch, scotch whisky, ScotchWhisky, whiskey, whisky

Queen of England Far Behind UAE on Richest Royals List

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wealth

More bad news for the Queen of England - she has fallen to 12th place on Forbes' list of the world's richest royals. Earlier this month we reported that the value of her London residence, Buckingham Palace, had fallen by a whopping $100 million thanks to declining property values.

Now Elizabeth II is suffering the added indignity of languishing on the rich list, as her measly $650 million fortune puts her well behind the UAE's oil-rich rulers. In the No. 1 spot for the first time is King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, with a net worth of $35 billion, who apparently shot up the list as a result of admitting he was richer than previously thought.

At No. 2 is Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the UAE and hereditary ruler of Abu Dhabi, with a net worth of $23 billion. No. 3 is King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia, worth $21 billion. And Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, ruler of Dubai, clocks in at No. 5 with $18 billion. See the complete list here.

Tags: abu dhabi, AbuDhabi, buckingham palace, BuckinghamPalace, Dubai, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, KingAbdullahBinAbdulAziz, KingBhumibolAdulyadej, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of England, QueenElizabethIi, QueenOfEngland, Royalty, Saudi Arabia, SaudiArabia, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, SheikhKhalifaBinZayedAlNahyan, SheikhMohammedBinRashid, Thailand, UAE, united arab emirates, UnitedArabEmirates

Value of Buckingham Palace Plummets by $100 Million

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Wealth

It seems even the Queen of England is feeling the credit crunch. The value of her official London residence, Buckingham Palace, has fallen by about $100 million over the past 12 months, the London Telegraph reports. The 52-bedroom mansion, which dates to 1703 and sits on 40 prime acres, is now valued at $1.7 billion, down from $1.8 billion in August of last year. The dollar figure was assessed by UK property values database Zoopla, which has also calculated that the Queen's weekend retreat, Windsor Castle, has dropped about $15 million in value over the same period to $320 million. "The figures highlight that even the Royal Family aren't immune to the recent property market slump and that larger properties have been effected too," Zoopla CEO Alex Chesterman tells the paper, noting that further decreases could well be in the offing.

Gallery: Poor Buckingham Palace