Royal bill goes up £1.5m – and they need more

Published on Monday 29 June 2009 22:03

THE Queen looks set to ask the government for a significant increase in her Civil List as annual accounts revealed yesterday that her reserve funds will run out by her Diamond Jubilee.

During the past financial year, the total cost of keeping the monarchy increased by 1.5 million to 41.5m.

The Queen and the Royal Family now cost the taxpayer 69p for every man, woman and child in the country – a 3p increase compared to 2007-8.

Although the Civil List, which pays for the running of the Royal Household, has not increased in two decades, any request for a boost in funds comes during the worst economic crisis to hit the UK since the Second World War. The current deal – worth 7.9m a year – finishes at the end of next year.

The royal accounts showed that the Queen dipped into a reserve fund last year to boost this by 6m to 13.9m. This is the highest amount ever drawn from the reserve, which comes from surplus Civil List money accumulated in the 1990s.

Buckingham Palace accountants are understood to be hoping to keep the total current level of spending the same in real terms when the Civil List is renegotiated, prompting speculation that the Queen will ask for a substantial rise in order to do so.

The boost from the reserve last year accounted for 43 per cent of the total Civil List money.

If the Queen continues drawing on her reserve at the current rate, she will run out of funds by the start of 2012 – 60 years since she acceded to the throne.

The pot of money has gone down from 35m to 21m in the last decade.

The current Civil List deal of 7.9m a year was agreed by Sir John Major in 1990 and frozen in 2000 following a deal with the Treasury to compensate for ten years of over-generous payments.

A senior palace aide said formal discussions had not begun with the Treasury about a new agreement. He stressed it had always been the plan to build up a reserve and then use it up by the end of the latest ten-year cycle, which expires in 2010.

But the aide would not be drawn on how much more money the palace would be seeking from the government.

Graham Smith, from the anti-monarchy group Republic, said: "The whole thing needs to be run by a government department on a budget that can be scrutinised by parliament."

The Civil List is taxpayers' money used to fund the Queen's duties as head of state. It pays for the costs of staff and the running of the official household.

Last year, 9.9m was spent on salaries, 1.5m on administration, 300,000 on housekeeping, 400,000 on furnishings, 400,000 on ceremonial functions and 300,000 was used for other unnamed costs.

It also paid for catering and hospitality, with the bill coming to 1.1m, including 600,000 for garden parties and 500,000 for food and the royal kitchens.

Other royal funding from the taxpayer includes grant-in-aid, which pays for royal residences' upkeep, communication and royal travel. The amount spent on royal travel increased by 300,000 to 6.5m last year.

The most expensive journeys were the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall's two long-haul overseas tours at more than 1.3m in total.

The couple's charter flights to the Far East cost 655,675, a train ride from Tokyo cost 2,596, their flights to South America came to 645,127 and the charter yachts cost 7,271.

In addition to this was more than 85,000 paid in staff travel associated with the tours. A charter flight by the Duke of York from RAF Northolt to Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt to attend the World Economic Forum in May last year cost more than 55,000, while the Duke of Gloucester – 19th in line to the throne – and his wife flew to Tonga and the Solomon Islands for 150,000.

Sir Alan Reid, keeper of the privy purse, said: "The money provided by the taxpayer to enable the Queen to fulfil her role as head of state, is equivalent to 69p per person in the country."

The total 41.5 million cost for the Royal Family excludes the cost of security provided by the police and army.

Keeping up appearances … where the money went

Queen/Duke of Edinburgh – 359,557

The most expensive trip was a state visit to Turkey, which cost 123,856. A state visit to Slovenia and Slovakia cost 93,505.

Travel expenditure to and from Balmoral and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, excluding the costs of engagements in Scotland, comprised 61,521.

Travelling without her husband, the Queen incurred an additional 68,456. The Duke of Edinburgh, travelling alone, incurred a further 2,783.

Prince of Wales / Duchess of Cornwall – 1,467,259

The vast majority of the couple's travel costs came courtesy of two official visits abroad. They chartered various flights to and around Japan, Brunei, and Indonesia at a cost of 655,675. A scheduled return rail journey from Tokyo to Nagano, meanwhile, cost 2,596.

Charles and Camilla also went on an official visit to Chile, Brazil, and Ecuador, costing 652,398. Not included in their joint total is travel costs for Prince Charles and reconnaissance trips by his staff, which amounted to 176,983.

Duke of York – 419,322

A nine-day-long trip to Ukraine, Takikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Mongolia, cost 149,430. A month before, Prince Andrew's staff went on a reconnaissance costing 15,221.

He also attended the World Economic Forum in Sharm el-Sheikh, which cost 55,269. He also visited South Korea, the flights for which cost 42,283. Another trip to Vietnam and Singapore cost 64,747.

Princess Royal – 89,517

A visit to Croatia and Kosovo in February cost 19,670 in flights. Visits in Australia cost 21,349 in flights, and an official trip to Gibraltar in March at a cost of 21,553 for just two days.

Earl and Countess of Wessex – 24,470

Prince Edward's visit to new offices of the organising committee for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and the Edinburgh Festival cost 10,180.

His wife, Sophie, travelled to Germany to visit a British Army battalion at a cost of 14,290.