Queen Elizabeth II’s costs rising

LONDON — Public funding for Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family cost British taxpayers the equivalent of 69 pence (US$1.14) each last year, according to accounts published Monday.

The Queen’s office said that the costs incurred by the royal family were 41.5 million pounds ($68.6 million) in the year to March 31, an increase of 1.5 million ($2.48 million) on the previous year.

It means supporting the royal family cost British taxpayers an extra 3 pence (5 US cents) each last year.

Public money is used to pay the costs of travel and operating and staffing homes used by the royal family, including the Queen’s Buckingham Palace residence.

Sir Alan Reid, the Keeper of the Privy Purse — or treasurer to the royal household — said travel costs rose because fewer aircraft were available from the Royal Air Force, meaning that members of the royal family needed to charter commercial aircraft for overseas visits, often at short notice.

Figures showed that royal travel costs rose to 6.5 million ($10.76 million) from 6.2 million ($10.26 million). The queen visited Slovenia and Slovakia last year, while Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, toured countries including Japan and Indonesia.

Officials said a 400,000 pound ($661,302) relaunch of the royal family’s Web site in February, and hiring staff to run it also contributed to the increase in costs.

Graham Smith, campaign manager for Republic, an anti-monarchy group, said the costs can’t be justified.

“Very obviously they have no regard for public finances at all. There’s no reason why the queen can’t be paid a salary and a few million be spent on the staff,” Smith said.

The accounts showed that cleaning royal homes cost 300,000 pounds ($496,000), food bills ran to 500,000 pounds ($827,209) and garden parties cost a total of 400,000 pounds ($661,302).

Costs of security for the royal family provided by the police and army are not included in the accounts.

They showed that the queen had to use money from a reserve fund to supplement the amount allocated to her by the government.

Under a deal agreed in 1991, the queen receives 7.9 million pounds ($13.09 million) of public money each year to pay for basic expenditure, including the costs of staff. The accounts showed she used an extra 6 million pounds ($9.9 million) from a reserve fund — built up over several decades by saving portions of her allocated budget.

Lawmakers and the queen will negotiate her budget again in 2010, when she’s likely to ask for an increase in basic funding.

If the queen continues to use money from her reserve fund at the current rate, she’ll run out of funds by 2012 — the year she celebrates her 60th year as Britain’s monarch.