Most people are of the belief that a lot of taxpayer money must go into financing the British monarchy. According to the recently released financial report, they paid up to $104 million for the Royal Household.
The report is released annually, and details everything the royals spend their money on, beginning with the Queen’s expenditure. This time around, the report came in June, detailing the royal expenditure from April 2018 to March 2019.
$42 Million For Renovations
A total of $42 million was used for refurbishments at Buckingham Palace and the residences of both Prince William and Prince Harry, while $1.2 million was what the royal family spent traveling overseas.
To put this into more context, $3.4 million immediately went into renovating the Palace’s east wing, with the whole process necessitating an immediate vacating of the entire wing by both the staff and the Queen herself. This part of the Palace was said to be particularly vulnerable to fire and water, hence the much-needed replacement of mechanical and electrical infrastructure.
As part of the renovation, $19.3 million was saved up for future use. This was because the entire process is expected to be a decade long project, and it wouldn’t be wise to overburden the taxpayer.
You must already know that the Sussex couple moved into Frogmore Cottage considering the hype around their relationship. According to the financial report, five of the ten bedrooms in the manor were not in the best of conditions, and as such needed some polishing up. This necessitated a total of $3 million in funding to make the home fit for a Prince and his newborn son.
While Harry and Meghan moved to Frogmore, William and Kate remained in Kensington Palace. The Palace’s driveway wasn’t in the best of conditions, and Old Stables, a cottage on these grounds needed some work in preparation of Prince Richard (cousin to the Queen) moving in with his family. $1.7 million was used to ensure that everything at Kensington was at its best possible condition.
Wage Bill
Obviously, members of staff serving the royals get paid a handsome fee. Collectively, they were paid a total of $29.5 million for their services to the Queen and the entire The ratio of male to female employees was relatively balanced, seeing as the Household had 276 and 279 members of either gender in their employ respectively.
Official engagements in the UK arranged by the Queen and the rest of her family cost them well over $19,000, which may not seem much but considering that there were 3,200 engagements in total, the cost quickly adds up.
In her capacity as Queen, Elizabeth II actively took part in 140 of these. Among them was hosting President Trump twice.
For overseas travel, the $1.2 million was appropriately used. Before any traveling arrangements were made, factors that were considered included security, time, and environmental impact of the means, the report revealed.
The Sussex couple spent $103,000 touring Tonga and Fiji on official royal business, while Prince Charles and his wife spent $532,000 for the twelve days they spent in the Caribbean. Camilla and Charles also visited Africa (Nigeria, Gambia, and Ghana), spending $274,700 while at it, before heading out to France and Greece at the expense of $202,200.