Travel bill rises, but Queen cuts her spending by £1.8m

The report shows that costs rose by more than a third from 3.9m in 2009-10 - though that total would have been substantially higher but for the sale of the Queen's helicopter that year.

The figures came as it emerged that the overall cost to the taxpayer of supporting the monarchy fell by 1.8m in the last financial year.

The Queen's official expenditure decreased by 5.3 per cent from 33.9m in 2009-10 to 32.1m in 2010-11, according to the royal public finances annual report.

The Queen's Civil List spending fell from 14.2m to 13.7m, while there was a cut in spending on property services from 15.4m to 11.9m.

Sir Alan Reid, keeper of the privy purse, said the fall in spending had been achieved through increased income generation, deferral of property maintenance and a pay freeze for staff, which will continue this year.

But he warned that it would be "very difficult" for expenditure to reduce "very much further" without having an effect on the royal household's work to support the Queen and the long-term health of the estate.

"The Queen is very keen that the royal household should continue to reduce its expenditure in line with public expenditure reductions," he said.

"The decrease in expenditure is due mainly to increased income generation, the deferral of property maintenance expenditure and the implementation of a pay freeze. This pay freeze will continue on to this year."

Further cuts in funding will mean that the budget for projects in the annual works programme is likely to be reduced from 4m in 2010-11 to around 3m in 2012-13, according to the report, and would "inevitably lead" to the deferral of work on maintenance and refurbishment on royal properties.

Buckingham Palace said the figures for the royal public finances had been calculated using the new sovereign grant system which will replace the current funding streams from the civil list and grants-in-aid for royal travel, palace maintenance and communications.

The total figures released for the Queen's official expenditure in the financial years 2009-10 and 2010-11 do not include the Duke of Edinburgh's parliamentary annuity or expenditure met directly by government departments and the Crown Estate, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said.

Graham Smith, spokesman for the anti-monarchy group Republic, said: "Of course, the costs are just the tip of the iceberg - the true cost of the monarchy is likely to be over 200m each year."

He added: "The new sovereign grant would give the royals a limitless annual budget for them to fritter away on luxury travel.

"There will be more waste and less accountability. It's time for ministers to halt their plans, launch a full inquiry into royal spending and make their decision when we can see exactly what value the royals give us."