The Queen is running out of cash
The Royals have cost taxpayers an extra 3.75 per cent in the past year after the cost of the monarchy rose to £41.5million, the Palace said yesterday.
Sir Alan Reid, Keeper of the Privy Purse, put the cost at 69p for every Briton – a 3p increase on last year.
The real figure, however, is thought to be nearer £180million when security and policing are included.
The Queen is expected to seek a big rise in her £7.9million Civil List payment, frozen for 20 years, after dipping into a dwindling reserve fund accumulated in the 1990s to boost her expenditure by £6million.
But Government officials warn of little or no extra cash when the 10-year deal is renegotiated next year.
There is also a backlog of repairs needed to crumbling palaces and the Queen is struggling to get her £15million-a-year property maintenance grant increased.
But she has bowed to pressure and is ready to extend opening at Buckingham Palace to increase tourist revenue.
After insisting that it was impossible to open to the public when the Royal Family was in residence, she is now considering doing so in July.
