UK Gov’t to Raise Sum Paid to Royal Family to Fund Buckingham Palace Overhaul

The UK Trustees – the prime minister, the chancellor and the keeper of the Privy Purse – agreed to increase the Royal Family’s funding up to $455 million, according to the statement of the UK Treasury.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The UK government almost doubled the Royal Family’s funding to finance renovation works at London’s key attraction, Buckingham Palace, estimated at $455 million, the Treasury announced Friday.

"The 10 year phased refit option has an estimated capital cost £369 million … and the programme allows the reservicing to take place whilst the Palace remains fully operational," the report by the Royal Trustees reads.

The Trustees – the prime minister, the chancellor and the keeper of the Privy Purse – agreed to increase the amount of Sovereign Grant paid to support the Queen’s duties from the current 15 percent of Crown Estate revenues to 25 percent.

The property will be occupied by the Queen and other members of the Royal Family as well as the majority of the Royal Household employees for the period of renovation.

Works will include replacing electrical wiring, water pipes and the heating system, which were installed in the aftermath of World War Two, in a bid to reduce the risk of floods and fires after a 1992 blaze devastated the world’s oldest Windsor Castle, another royal residence, in Berkshire.