Britain’s royal family, often criticized for excessive spending, costs each taxpayer $1.12 (61 pence) a year, about the same as a loaf of bread, Buckingham Palace said on Wednesday.
The Royal Public Finances annual report, which details public spending on the monarchy’s property and travel, said Queen Elizabeth’s household cost the taxpayer $69 million (36.7 million pounds) in 2004-5, about $182,000 in saving from the previous year.
“We believe this represents a value-for-money monarchy,” said Alan Reid, the “Keeper of the Privy Purse” who looks after the queen’s finances.
“We’re not looking to provide the cheapest monarchy. We’re looking at one of good value and good quality,” he added.
Reid said the total cost of the monarchy was less than in 2001 when the royal family first published details of its finances in response to public demands that it become more open and accountable.
Greatest criticism of royal family spending is usually reserved for high transport costs.
Charter costs
This year’s report showed that chartering a flight for heir-to-the throne Prince Charles’s trip to Sri Lanka, Australia and Fiji had cost the taxpayer over 292,000 pounds.
The monarchy has made efforts to curb its spending, most notably decommissioning the royal yacht Britannia in 1997, and the report said the cost to the taxpayer was 60 percent lower than in 1991-2 when it amounted to 87.3 million pounds.
“The further reduction in the amount of Head of State expenditure reflects the continuous attention the Royal Household pays to obtaining the best value for money in all areas of expenditure,” Reid said.
The report said the largest area of public funding was the $36 million (20 million pound) Property Grant-in-Aid, which meets the costs of maintenance, utilities, telephones and related services of the royal palaces.
