British royal bailout looms as queen’s bills grow

LONDON — The latest financial statements from Britain’s royal family suggest that the next British institution needing a taxpayer bailout could well be the monarch herself.

Annual accounts analyzed by Britain’s press Tuesday show that Queen Elizabeth II took 6 million pounds ($9.9 million) over the past year from her own state-funded reserve account to balance the books at Buckingham Palace and myriad other royal residences.

The total bill for the queen and her family’s globe-trotting rose 3.8 percent to 41.5 million pounds ($68.6 million) — the equivalent of 69 pence (US$1.14) per citizen — during a 12-month period ending in March.

Experts on royal finances said the monarchy would require millions more in taxpayer support. Otherwise the queen’s reserve funds soon could run out and they would be unable to pay aides’ salaries. The experts warned that Buckingham Palace and other royal residences badly needed repairs, some of which had already been postponed for decades.

Sir Alan Reid, the keeper of the privy purse — otherwise known as the treasurer to the royal household — estimated that the bill for outstanding repairs could reach 40 million pounds ($66 million) by 2019 unless the queen received extra state support for her travel, residential and staffing bills.

The report on royal finances, published Monday, did not specify any targets for increased funding — but did emphasize that the queen couldn’t keep dipping into her reserves at the current rate. If she did, it forecast, the current reserves of 21 million pounds ($34.7 million) would run dry by 2012, her 60th year as monarch.

The Guardian newspaper said it was likely that the queen would seek an extra 4 million pounds ($6.6 million) per year on top of her current state aid when the royal household negotiates a new 10-year deal with the government in 2010. Buckingham Palace’s press office declined to comment on that report, which was cheekily headlined “Times may be hard, but one needs a 4m pay rise.”

Under a deal agreed in 1991, the queen receives 7.9 million pounds ($13.1 million) of public money each year to pay for her family’s staff. The queen’s reserve fund has been built up over decades by saving unspent money from previous annual budgets when times were good.

Reid said travel costs rose over the most recent 12-month period because fewer aircraft were available from the Royal Air Force. This required the royal family to charter commercial aircraft, often at short notice.

Figures showed that royal travel costs rose to 6.5 million pounds ($10.75 million) from 6.2 million ($10.25 million).

Officials said a 400,000 pound ($660,000) relaunch of the royal family’s Web site in February, and hiring staff to run it, boosted the total bill.

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 ($500,000), food bills ran to 500,000 pounds ($830,000) and garden parties cost 400,000 pounds ($660,000).

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