Public cost of monarchy in Britain rises
Print Edition
THE public cost of the British monarchy rose by 2.4 million pounds last year to 35.7 million pounds (US$60.6 million), palace accounts revealed yesterday.
Property maintenance accounted for 13.3 million pounds of the sovereign grant — the part of the public purse used to fund the official duties of the monarchy — including 3.4 million pounds to “completely re-service” Kensington Palace, the family home of Prince William, Kate and their son George.
The 20-room apartment, number 1A, reportedly required a “complete refit” to make it habitable, including the removal of asbestos and the installation of running water in some parts. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as William and Kate are known, paid for furniture and fittings.
“Some of the fit-out we felt should be paid for privately. The Cambridges have been extremely sensitive to the fact that public funds were paying for a lot of this work,” an aide said.
The accounts revealed that about 1.1 million pounds was also spent on the apartment last year, bringing the total to 4.5 million pounds.
In battling a “backlog” of restoration works, the royal family carried out a total of 133 projects across the estate, according to Buckingham Palace accounts.
Meanwhile, royal travel cost the British public 4.2 million pounds in 2012/13, down from 4.5 million pounds a year earlier.
Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, was responsible for 1 million pounds of this, including 255,000 pounds to attend Nelson Mandela’s funeral in December.
The prince, the eldest son of 88-year-old Queen Elizabeth II, received a record total of 21.7 million pounds from his private Duchy of Cornwall income and taxpayer funding.
Under a new funding arrangement agreed in 2011, the sovereign grant is set at 15 percent of the profits of the royal estate from two years previously. The rest of the profits go into the public coffers.
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