Austerity for Herself, The Queen

Reuters
Ted Mann 5,239 Views Dec 4, 2011

Britain's across the board budget cuts have a new victim: Queen Elizabeth II.

The Daily Mail reports Elizabeth and the royal family will accept a variety of budget cuts, including some for capital expenses that will likely halt ongoing repairs to Buckingham Palace. And the queen will be subject to a pay freeze through 2015. The cuts go down through the family line. For instance, government funds now used to support "the court of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge" (that is, Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton), will be halted. Prince Charles, William's dad, will have to pay for the kids from now on.

The Queen’s funding will now equal 15 per cent of the profits made two years previously by the Crown Estate, under the new law which passed six weeks ago.

The Crown Estate includes Regent Street, Windsor Great Park and over 50 per cent of the UK’s shoreline.

Chancellor George Osborne has imposed the freeze on the Queen’s taxpayer funding – setting payments at £30m per year until April 2013.

But she will receive a further one-off payment of £1m to fund the cost of the diamond jubilee.

As they always say, nothing takes the sting off a pay cut like throwing yourself a diamond jubilee.

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