The ManicaPost
QUEEN Elizabeth II was set to get a little more in her pay-check this year— $43 million more, to be exact. The queen received $54,6 million in tax-free income last year, but this year, she’ll be getting around $97 million.
The money is what’s known as a “sovereign grant,” a type of expense account designed to cover travel, security, staff, upkeep and other costs.
That money was scheduled to go toward renovations at Buckingham Palace: a residence that, at 775 rooms, needed extensive repairs. Staff planned to fix or replace about 100 miles of electric cables more than 60 years old, lead pipes, thousands of light fixtures and wall outlets and 2,500 radiators, according to NBC News.
Queen Elizabeth II reacts after presenting New Colours to the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards at Windsor Castle Apr. 30, 2015 in London.
The restoration would likely take at least 10 years and the queen planned to remain at the palace while the work was being done. “The project seeks to prevent a serious risk of fire, flood and damage to both the building and the priceless Royal Collection of art belonging to the nation,” the U.K. Treasury said in a statement last year. The sovereign grant, however, isn’t the Queen’s only income.
In addition, she receives what’s known as a “privy purse,” or a basic salary. The privy purse comes out to about $16 million per year, according to CNN.
The state grant given to the queen during the last fiscal year came out to be about $0.83 per person, official Keeper of the Privy Purse Sir Alan King told CNN.—International Business Times
