Queen Elizabeth’s funeral cost the public $200 million: Figures

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The Guardian
19 May 00:07
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The amount of money that was spent amid the huge economic crisis battering the United Kingdom was heavily criticized.

Queen Elizabeth II lies in state at the Palace of Westminster. (AP)

The ceremonies commemorating Queen Elizabeth II's death last year cost the public around £161.7m ($200 million), as per Treasury estimates.

Following her death on September 8, last year, a 10-day period of national mourning was declared, culminating in the monarch's burial. Official viewership figures revealed that more than 29 million people in the UK watched the funeral on television, while around 250,000 individuals attended the ceremony.

Critics said the event's opulence was improper at a time when many people are struggling to meet basic requirements.

“There is an assumption that these things have to be done on this scale and that’s an assumption that needs to be questioned – particularly in the middle of a cost of living crisis,” the chief executive of Republic, Graham Smith, said as quoted by The Guardian.

On their part, government ministers have stated that the commemorations must reflect the event's national significance, to which Smith responded, “When people can’t put food on the table – even though they are in work – they would probably derive more from a hot meal” than from the grandeur surrounding the queen’s funeral.

The chief secretary to the Treasury, John Glen, gave out the anticipated cost of £161.7 million in a written submission to parliament.

The statement read:

"The biggest spenders were the Home Office, which paid out £73.7m, followed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which paid £57.4m, and the Scottish government, with costs of £18.8m. Glen broke down the cost to each department.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport: £57.4m
Department for Transport: £2.6m
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: £2.1m
Home Office: £73.7m
Ministry of Defence: £2.9m
Northern Ireland Office: £2.1m
Scottish Government: £18.8m
Welsh Government: £2.2m"

Glen stated that the expenses only comprised money spent explicitly on events “as opposed to costs that would have been incurred in any case."

He went on to say the Treasury had paid some of those costs – including “fully refunding the Scottish government, Welsh government, and Northern Ireland Office for their respective costs, which in turn they were able to repay to partners who also incurred costs”.

Glen stressed that the events were of “huge national significance," adding, “During this period, many hundreds of thousands of people came in person to pay their respects, at the lying at rest in Edinburgh, the lying in state in Westminster, as well as in London and Windsor for the state funeral on 19 September."

The funerals of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Queen Elizabeth, as well as the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, were the most costly state ceremonies in recent decades, according to FactCheck estimates, costing between £7m and £8.4m each.

Officials noted at the time that the logistics of the commemorations were comparable to organizing hundreds of state visits all at once. The Foreign Office deployed hundreds of people to the assignment, and the combination of security, diplomacy, etiquette, and logistics was widely considered the most complex piece of short-term planning to confront the diplomatic service since Churchill's burial.

The revelations came shortly after the crowning of Charles III as King and his wife Camilla as Queen-- an event that enraged some Britians who criticized the amount of money spent amid the huge economic crisis grappling the United Kingdom.

According to estimates, the coronation cost a staggering 250 million pounds ($314 million).