Cost of the Queen Falls by 1.8mn

Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh arrive at the first of this year's royal garden parties held in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, London on June 29, 2011. (Stephan Rousseau/AFP/Getty Images)

The Queen’s official expenditure dropped 5.3 per cent to £32.1 million in the last financial year ending in April.

According to an official report, the Royal Household cost £1.8 million less in 2010–2011 than it did in 2009–2010. This is equivalent to 51 pence per person, 3 pence less than last year.

Much of the saving came from a £3.5 million reduction in maintenance costs for property. Last year, the Queen received £11.9 million to maintain and repair her homes including Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and St James’s Palace. However, this is not enough.

The report warned that much vital maintenance on royal palaces was not likely to go ahead. The introduction of new funding arrangements in the form of the Sovereign Grant from 2012–2013 will mean even less will be spent on maintenance and repairs.

“This will inevitably lead to the deferral of works and will increase the backlog,” states the report.

“Furthermore, it is likely that the programme will become more reactive than planned. In 2011–12, for example, the roof to the Augusta Tower will be renewed because the lead has split and pinholed, causing leaks into the rooms below. Significant repairs will also be carried out to the mains distribution boards, some of which have failed as a result of routine generator tests. It is anticipated that planned work will be deferred in favour of more urgent reactive repairs for the foreseeable future.”

The cost of royal travel increased from £3.9 million to £6 million. However, last year’s cost of travel was exceptionally low as it was offset by the sale of the Queen’s helicopter. Without taking the helicopter sale into account, royal travel cost £5.4 million in 2009–2010.

The two largest tours during the year were those undertaken by The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall to India, which included a charter flight costing £298,089, and by The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh to the United Arab Emirates and the Sultanate of Oman, which cost £356,253 in flights.

Sir Alan Reid, Keeper of the Privy Purse, said in a statement: “The Queen is very keen that the Royal Household should continue to reduce its expenditure in line with public expenditure reductions.

“The decrease in expenditure is due mainly to increased income generation, the deferral of property maintenance expenditure and the implementation of a pay freeze. This pay freeze will continue onto this year.

“Over the past five years The Queen’s Official Expenditure has reduced by 19 per cent in real terms and while the Royal Household will continue to identify efficiencies it will be very difficult for overall expenditure to reduce very much further without impacting on the Royal Household’s activities in support of The Queen and the long-term health of the estate.”