National Republican., 1878-06-18
WHAT A GOOD QUEEN COSTS.
The Amount Engiishmen Arc Taxed to Sup
port the Royal Establishment.

The Amount Engiishmen Arc Taxed to Sup
port the Royal Establishment. .
London Correspondence New York SUM-
When Queen Victoria came TO tho throne In
| 1887 the usual steps were taken to provide for
| the support Of Her Majesty and the Royal
| Household. select committee OF twenty
one members was appointed by the House Of
Commons to prepare estimates for such sup
port. The charges for the Household Of Will
lam ". were made the basis Of their calcula-
tions. They seem really to have taken 1t as
| model household, and to have arranged the
present ono on almost exactly the same plan,
and with just about the same expenses. For
Her Maiestys privy purse they set apar. 5000
900 yearly; for household salaries, S6o6,3OO
| for ordinary household expenses, 1862, 800
for royal bounty, &C., S68,00O, and for various
other small items Si2 200. The total Is 1885,
900, or about Sl,925,000. Tho estimate was
| agreed to by tho House Of Commons, and so
| tho account stands to-day. Some Of the offices
| for which provision was made In that list have
| since become obsolete, and tile tncumbents
| have absolutely no duties to perform. fct the
offices are still filled aud the salaries are
| still paid as before.
These items by no means constitute the
whole expense of the Queens household, and
that lump sum of 81 ,925,O00 Is by no means
| her whole income from the national treasury.
| She also receives the revenues of the Duchy OF
Lancaster which amount to s2l5,0OO net. The
amount from this source Is not uniform, but
that was the sum received for tho last year
rcpOrtcd-lSI6-77. This swells Her Majesty s
prlvy purse to $5l5,00O per annum out Of the
| funds of the nation. On this sum sho has alb
soutely no demands for her actual ordinary
expenses. 1t is clear pocket money. She is
under no necessity Of laying out single pom
ny of 1t, for every possible expense seems to be
provided for In other allowances. If shc travels
| by water q yacht Is placed ut her disposal at
government expense. If she travels by rail,
the country likewise foots the bill by an ad-
ditiOnal allowance. Even for charity she
need not draw upon her own purse, for lib.
oral grant is made for this express purpose.
Not only docs she travel by water In royal
yachts, but small fleet of these yachts Is
built aud kept In repair for her particular use.
This Of itself is an enormous extra bill, but /
have no means Of finding tho amount of 1t.
Tho maintenance OF royal palaces takes an ad-
dititional Sl57,9O0 q year, and the maintenance
Of royal parks and pleasure gardens takes an
other S529,655 per annum.
Adding the annual allowance TO Her Majes-
ty, the net revenues of tho Duchy Of Lancas-
ter and the maintenance Of royal palaces,
parks. and pleasure. gardens, VIC have total OF
So, ,S27, ,555 year. This does not include the
travelling expenses of the Queen, tho maintc.
| nance of the royal Yachts or any of half a
dozen other important items which are strictly
| A part of the expenses of royalty in England
Allowances to other members of the royal
family are also additional items. an fact" as
an English authority says "if all tho expenses
incidental to the honor and dignity of the
Crown could be- ascertaincd, 1t would be found
that tho f3S5,0O0 annually settled by Parlia.
ment upon Her Majesty constitutes but very
small portion Of tho actual cost Of royalty"
1t would be wrong to bla,lc the Queen indi'
vidually with any great part Of the response
bility of her absurd and expensive household
II Is a creature of the British. aristocracy rs
WHOLE and the Queen is only kind OF central
figure of the system which the country has
built. may add that the Queen also has 9
largo private fortune, from which II is ssti
mated she realizes an income of 10 less thar
81 100000 year In addition to the amount
paid her by the nation.
The allowances to the Royal Family, not in
cluding the Queen, amount 10 S1s5,0OO yearly
The revenue of the Prince Of Wales from tn,
Duchy of Cornwull--about S35OOO0 annual,
lis no. included in this sum. Summing VI
: the leading items of the cost of royalty il
England we have total of S3,06I I3O. If al
the items could be ascertaincd, do not doub
that the total given would bo found to be no
moro than onc.half the direct ann ual cost Q
royalty in this country.