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Queen is 'running out of money'
THE Queen is to ask the Government for a pay hike as her annual accounts revealed today that her reserve funds will run out by her Diamond Jubilee.
During the last financial year, the total cost of keeping the monarchy increased by 1.5m to 41.5 m.
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 2007/08.
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 economic crisis. The current deal – 7.9 m 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 13.9 m.
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.
Meanwhile, 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. In addition to this was more than 85,000 paid in staff travel costs.
A charter flight by the Duke of York from RAF Northolt to Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt 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.
The total 41.5m cost for the Royal Family excludes the cost of security provided by the police and Army, and the ceremonial duties performed by the armed forces.
Graham Smith, from the anti-monarchy group Republic, said: "The Queen should have a salary of 200,000 and a smaller office staff paid directly by the Government."
But Sir Alan Reid, keeper of the privy purse, said the Royal Family provided "good value" to the UK.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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