Britain's Queen
Elizabeth II can expect a sweet 5% raise next year, thanks in large part to
record profits from real estate.
The queen is then
paid a grant each year by the Treasury equal to 15% of the profit from two
years before.
That means the
monarch, who celebrated 60 years on the throne last year, will receive income
of nearly 38 million pounds next year, according to the estate's annual report,
released Thursday.
Overspending
The
queen's grant for 2012-2013 totaled 31 million pounds, jumping to just over 36
million pounds for the current financial year.
She
spent 2.3 million pounds more than the allotted grant last year -- when she was
"exceptionally busy" with travel and events to mark the diamond
jubilee -- the annual report said. The extra cost was met from a reserve fund.
The
queen didn't travel abroad in the last financial year, but other members of the
royal family, including Princes William and Harry, undertook 30 foreign
engagements on her behalf.
Spending
last year on royal properties included 700,000 pounds (just over $1 million) so
far on the refurbishment of an apartment at Kensington Palace for William and
his wife, Catherine, who are expecting their first child in July.
Work
on the apartment, which was built to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren,
architect of London's landmark St. Paul's Cathedral, is due to be completed
this fall.
The
"Sovereign Grant" came into effect in April of last year, after the
passage of new legislation that consolidated public funding for the monarch's
official duties and royal palaces in return for the profits from the Crown
Estate.
The
queen has her own private estate, which includes Balmoral, in Scotland, and
Sandringham, her country retreat in Norfolk.
