Like millions of her subjects, Queen Elizabeth II is going to have to make do and mend by cutting spending and putting off palace repairs as royal finances are squeezed by Britain's budget crisis.
Accounts published Monday by Buckingham Palace reveal the total public cost of supporting the monarchy was 38.2 million pounds ($57.8 million) in the year to March 31, the equivalent of 62 pence (94 cents) per person. The total is more than 3 million pounds less than in 2008-2009.
The 84-year-old queen receives 7.9 million pounds of public money each year to pay for staff and other costs, an amount that has not risen in 20 years.
A meager $1 a year to have a cute, yet feisty queen as the figure head of your county? I'll take two. :)
