From the BBC:
“Queen Elizabeth II: Funeral and 10 days of mourning cost
government £162m”
(The coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth is carried out of
Westminster Abbey)
Queen Elizabeth II's funeral and events during the period of
national mourning cost the government an estimated £162m, the Treasury has
said. The state funeral on 19 September 2022 came 11 days after her death. During
that period of national mourning hundreds of thousands of people visited
Westminster where she was lying in state. The Home Office (£74m) and Department
of Culture, Media and Sport (£57m) spent the most. The costs incurred by the
government departments relate to the Queen's funeral and other events in the
run-up, including the monarch's lying-in-state. John Glen, chief secretary to
the Treasury, said the government's priority at the time had been to make sure
"these events ran smoothly and with the appropriate level of dignity,
while at all times ensuring the safety and security of the public". In a
written ministerial statement made to Parliament, Mr Glen said the Treasury had
provided additional funding where necessary and the Scottish, Welsh and
Northern Ireland governments were "fully" refunded for their
respective costs.
The estimated costs include:
Department for Culture, Media & Sport - £57.42m
Department for Transport - £2.565m
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office - £2.096m
Home Office - £73.68m
Ministry of Defence - £2.890m
Northern Ireland Office - £2.134m
Scottish Government - £18.756m
Welsh Government - £2.202m
Total - £161.743m
After Queen Elizabeth II died on 8 September 2022 aged 96, the UK started 10 days of national mourning. The late Queen's coffin was laid to rest in St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh for 24 hours, before the monarch was taken to Westminster Abbey in London where thousands of mourners queued for hours to pay their respects. People lined up in London at all hours of the day, often in chilly temperatures, to pay their respects - including David Beckham. The wait time at one stage was estimated to be more than 24 hours; and the queue snaked from Westminster Hall, down along the River Thames and stretched south for almost seven miles (11km). The scale of the state funeral and mourning arrangements led to what police described at the time as "probably the biggest operation we're likely to launch in the UK".
World leaders and foreign royalty joined the Royal Family for
the state funeral at Westminster Abbey. Members of the 2,000-strong
congregation included the Queen's great-grandchildren, the prime minister at
the time Liz Truss and US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill. The event was
watched by millions of people across the country and around the world. It was
the first state funeral since Sir Winston Churchill's in 1965 and the biggest
ceremonial event since World War Two. After the funeral, the Queen's coffin
travelled in a procession to Wellington Arch and then on to its final journey
to Windsor Castle and a committal service. The cost was used to facilitate the
smooth running of the event and ensure mourners from the UK and across the
world could visit and take part safely, Downing Street has said. "Of
course, a major international event of this scale, we wanted to ensure that we
could enable people to pay their respects," a No 10 spokesman added.
^ I understand that the amount seems like a lot of money to
many – and it is – but it not only remembered a Monarch that ruled for 70 years,
but also kept British and World Leaders and the Ordinary People safe. ^
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.