London: The British Queen is all set to feel
the pinch of the economic downturn as she faces a pay freeze
until 2015 as part of austerity measures imposed in a shake up
of the royal finances, according to a media report.
The royal household is on course for six successive years
of funding cuts -- affecting the Queen's income, which has
dropped in real terms since 2009.
The austerity measures mean the monarch's royal palace
repairs will likely be halted. "And any extra taxpayers' money
previously used to fund the court of the Duke and Duchess of
Cambridge, will also no longer be available," the Daily Mail
reported quoting the Sunday Times.
"The Prince of Wales will be responsible for the costs of
providing staff for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, until
Charles becomes king," it said.
Under the new arrangement, the Queen will receive 15 per
cent of the profits made over two years from the Crown Estate,
whose portfolio includes Regent Street, Windsor Great Park and
more than half the country's shoreline.
Chancellor George Osborne has imposed the freeze on the
Queen's taxpayer funding -- setting payments at 30 million
pounds per year until April 2013. But she will receive a
further one-off payment of 1 million pounds to fund the cost
of the diamond jubilee.
In stark contrast, she received 77.3 million pounds from
taxpayer funding in 1991-92, but since the recession she has
seen a huge drop, the report said.
In 2008-9 it had fallen to 38.3 million pounds, while
last year she received only 32.1 million pounds, according to
an official Treasury briefing document placed in the House of
Commons and House of Lords libraries.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, December 04, 2011, 18:40