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Queen Elizabeth II is to receive a whopping £82.2 million ($AUD 137.7 million) next year — an increase of more than £6 million ($AUD 10 million).
It comes as accounts revealed the Crown Estate’s profits rose by eight per cent to £328.8 million ($AUD 554 million) in 2016/17.
The taxpayer-funded ‘Sovereign Grant’ — which is based on the profits of the Crown Estate portfolio — is used to pay expenses such as the salaries of the Queen’s household, official travel and upkeep of the royal palaces.
Of course, the Queen receives a large percentage of the allotment to cover her official expenditure — £42 million ($AUD 71 million) worth.
Charles, Prince of Wales, heir to the throne, will also receive a 1.2 per cent pay increase to £20.7m ($AUD 35 million).
It was also revealed that Her Majesty’s net expenditure last year increased by £2 million ($AUD 3.4 million), to almost £42 million ($AUD 71 million).
However, Sir Alan Reid, the Keeper of the Privy Purse, said the Queen represented “excellent value for money.”
“When you look at these accounts, the bottom line is the Sovereign Grant last year equated to 65p per person, per annum, in the United Kingdom,” he said. “That’s the price of a first class stamp.”
He added: “Consider that against what the Queen does and represents for this country, I believe it represents excellent value for money.”
Royal aides insist that the Queen and family provide “excellent value for money.”
The increase in funding will coincide with a set of extensive repairs at Buckingham Palace, set to cost £369 million ($AUD 622 million).
The refurbishment, the biggest undertaken on the property since the second world war, will renew electrical wiring, water pipes and heating systems.
However within hours of the announcement breaking late last year, a petition was set up calling for the Monarchy to fund the project out of their own pocket.
At present, the 38 Degrees petition has garnered over 140, 000 signatures.
“There is a national housing crisis, the NHS is in crisis, austerity is forcing cuts in many front line services. Now the Royals expect us to dig deeper to refurbish Buckingham Palace. The Crown’s wealth is inestimable. This is, in a word, outrageous,” the page’s organiser Mark Johnson explained on the website.
Renovations are already underway, with events such as Trooping the Colour still being carried out.
Angry citizens were also quick to voice their concerns over the ambitious repairs.
“I’m 18, 37 weeks pregnant and sitting in a freezing house because I can’t afford to put my heating on… can I have £369m so I can live in a nice house where I can put the heating on from now until March? Sorry Liz, I think £369m can be spent on other things than your palace,” one user explained on the petition site.
“The Queen is the richest person (or at least one of) so the works can be funded privately and the ‘public’ money could then be used to make a massive difference to thousands of equally hard working and/or vulnerable people,” another added.
Of course, the Grenfell Tower fire has only served to exasperate these sentiments, with many commenting on the growing divide between rich and poor.
