Queen Elizabeth’s staffers have been spending up a storm, frittering away money that’s supposed to be used for palace upkeep, a British committee found.
The House of Commons public accounts committee reported that the queen’s coffers have dropped to $1.66 million. That’s down from $58 million in 2001, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The chairwoman of the committee, Margaret Hodge, said the staffers ought to get some guidance from the Treasury department on how to run a royal household, United Press International reported. Ms. Hodge also said that some of the palaces, like Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, are in dire need of renovations. For instance, one staffer said they’re actually placing buckets in the hallways to catch water during rain storms, UPI said.
“The household must get a much firmer grip on how it plans to address its maintenance backlog,” Ms. Hodge said, in UPI. “It has not even [conducted] the repair works needed to bring the estate back to an acceptable condition. Again, the Treasure has an oversight role here.”
The report didn’t make clear what staff had been buying with the royal reserves.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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