Britain's Queen cuts spending

The Queen's household saved money on transport

LONDON, England -- The UK's Queen Elizabeth spent £3 million ($4.2 million) less of taxpayers' money in 2000/2001 than the year before.

The revelation came on Thursday as the British royal household issued its first ever annual spending review.

The Queen and some of her family, especially the Prince of Wales, are known to be sensitive over the perceived cost to the public of having a monarchy.

Buckingham Palace was stung by the reaction to the news that the repair cost of Windsor Castle following a fire in the early 1990s would be met by taxpayers.

Soon after, the Queen agreed to pay taxes for the first time ever.

Anti-royal sentiment is fuelled by the millions of pounds needed to maintain royal palaces and to fund the Civil List, even though the number of minor royals on it have been cut in recent years.

The Annual Summary of Head of State expenditure, part of the monarchy's bid to adapt to the modern world by becoming more accountable, revealed that the head of the royal family got through £35 million during the period under review.

The report, headed "Greater transparency and continued savings from Royal Household," said that net savings to the British Treasury over the last decade was £90 million.

The monarch spent £48 million pounds less in the last financial year than in 1991/1992 and boosted revenues from the Crown Estate by £42 million between 1991-1992 and 1999-2000.

The Queen's treasurer, Sir Michael Peat taking into account Crown Estate revenues surrendered by the Queen to the public purse, the monarchy actually cost taxpayers nothing -- and was in credit.

"People are inclined to talk about how much the Queen costs the taxpayer," he said.

"In fact, the Queen doesn't cost the taxpayer anything."

The £3 million reduction principally reflects savings in royal travel expenditure which has been cut from £8,565,000 in 1999-2000 to £5,368,000 last year.

Major spending was on property maintenance -- including Buckingham Palace, St James's Palace, Clarence House, Kensington Palace and Windsor Castle -- and amounted to £15,290,000 last year compared with £15,311,000 in the previous year.

Money from the Crown Estate, surrendered since 1760 in return for Civil List and other payments from Parliament, had increased by £42 million since 1991-92 to £133 million in 1999-2000.

"The £48 million reduction in Head of State expenditure together with the £42 million increase in Crown Estate revenue mean that the net annual contribution made by the Queen to the Exchequer has increased by £90 million during the last nine years," said Peat.

In addition, this year, the first ever annual summary of Head of State Expenditure, met from public funds, was published in a bid to continue the Palace's drive to make royal finances as transparent and comprehensible as possible, he said.

Peat said public spending on the monarchy of £35 million last year should be put into a wider Government context and was "in fact, a small amount of money".

Head of State spending in 1991, when responsibility for expenditure was taken over by the Royal Household, amounted to £83 million and had now been cut to £35 million, saving taxpayers £48 million.

Peat said economies in royal spending had been achieved without any reduction in quality or diminution in the dignity of the monarchy.

Most savings -- £1.7 million -- in the royal travel budget had been achieved through switching from more expensive RAF flights to cheaper charters, while spending on the Royal Train was cut from £756,000 in 1999-2000 to £620,000 last year.