Queen costs Brits 66p each
- 00:01:32
- ITN
Queen costs Brits 66p each
The Queen and the Royal Family cost the taxpayer 4p more last year, or 66p per person, Buckingham Palace accounts have revealed.Royal accountants said the total cost of keeping the monarchy in the year to March 31 increased by £2 million to £40 million.Spending on official royal travel rose, as did the Queen's Civil List - funds used to cover the cost of the monarch's official duties as head of state.Keeper of the Privy Purse, Sir Alan Reid, said: "Expenditure on royal travel, which will vary from year to year, also increased in response to the number of overseas visits undertaken at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and UK Trade and Investment."During the current year, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport confirmed that the grant-in-aid for the maintenance of the palaces would remain at £15 million per annum for at least the next three years."With no increase in funding for 12 years, the backlog in essential maintenance projects has continued to grow. In the absence of any increase of funding, the backlog of work is estimated at £32 million in today's money."
ITN | June 27, 2008
