I have read in the press this morning that the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee will be having words in Parliament today regarding the state of some of the royal residences and the fact that the backlog of repairs and maintenance necessary for buildings including Windsor Castle and Buck House is currently running at approximately £50million, leaving Her Maj relatively short at the bank.
Whilst Queeny spends relatively little time at home, it has been suggested that Buckingham Palace should be open to the public for longer than the current 2 months over the course of the year to raise more revenue, or that the pile be hired out more often. It was hired out to investment bank JP Morgan last year for a private dinner which included guests such as Tony Blair, Kofi Annan (head of the UN) and the Duke of York, who I should imagine, felt a bit odd at being a guest for dinner in his own family home. Together with other commercial events at both Kensington Palace and St. James’s Palace, the royal estate brought in £11.6million in revenue which, in fairness, is a year on year increase since 2007, although clearly not enough.
Some of the essential maintenance at Buckingham Palace includes replacement of the boilers which are over 60 years old, rewiring and decoration of the State rooms which haven’t been touched since 1952 and the masonry in the John Nash quadrangle, some of which nearly landed on Princess Anne as she got out of her car. Apparently the lead on the roof of Windsor Castle needs an area the size of Wimbledon’s centre and number one courts replacing.
As a patriot I thought I would try and come up with some ideas for our beloved Monarch to raise a few more pennies to facilitate these, and other essential repairs. My first thought was that as we have some cracking rates for bed and breakfast insurance here at Comparecrazy.com, she could convert the 52 royal and guest bedrooms into a £70 a night B&B. It’s conveniently centrally located to see the sights of London… including Buckingham Palace, and at full capacity has the potential to generate over £1.3million per annum. With the Duke of Edinburgh on hand to ensure there’s no ‘riff raff’, Edward and Sophie on hand to knock out the full English in the morning and the great savings on the bed and breakfast insurance through us here at CompareCrazy, I’m absolutely certain it’s a winner! Comparecrazy.com, the business insurance comparison site!
