Queen Elizabeth II set for 8 per cent pay rise

London, Jun 27 (PTI) Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is set for an 8 per cent pay rise this year, which will boost her funding from UK taxpayers by 6 million pounds. Latest accounts show that the 91-year-old monarch owned Crown Estate profits rose by 24 million pounds and official net expenditure last year increased by 2 million, to almost 42 million pounds.

According to the latest accounts released this week, the Queen and the Royal Family’s official travel cost the UK taxpayer 4.5 million pounds during 2016/17, up 500,000 pounds from the previous year. The Sovereign Grant, which pays for the salaries of her household, official travel and upkeep of palaces, is to increase in 2018-19 to make up for this rise in expenses. “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. That’s the price of a first class stamp. Consider that against what the Queen does and represents for this country, I believe it represents excellent value for money,” said Sir Alan Reid, Keeper of the UK’s Privy Purse.

The Sovereign Grant is paid two years in arrears and is given to the Queen by the UK Treasury. The funding model is based on 25 per cent of the profits of the Crown Estate, which hit a new high of 328.8 million pounds this year. Alison Nimmo, the chief executive of the estate, attributed this to the “many years of disciplined market positioning”.

The estate covers much of London’s prime West End properties, Windsor Great Park, Ascot Racecourse, extensive farmland and forest and almost all of the seabed out to 12 nautical miles in the UK. Last November it had been announced that the grant would increase from 15 per cent of the Crown Estate profits to 25 per cent for a 10 -year period, effective from this April, to fund the 369-million-pound cost of refurbishing Buckingham Palace.