Queen’s funeral will be paid for by British taxpayers

The British government has not yet disclosed how much Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral Monday will cost, saying only that it would provide details “in due course.”

But the price tag, which will involve elaborate processions, vigils and rituals, is expected to be significant and will be covered by the state.

Even adjusted for inflation, her funeral is expected to cost more than the last state funeral in Britain, that of Winston Churchill, in 1965, and the ceremonial funeral for the queen mother, in 2002. The queen mother’s funeral was estimated to have cost 825,000 pounds ($954,000) for the lying-in-state and 4.3 million pounds ($5 million) for security, according to a House of Commons report.

Read | Queen Elizabeth II to be interred privately on September 19

The hefty price tag for Queen Elizabeth II comes as consumer prices in Britain are rising at their fastest pace in four decades, with inflation at nearly 10%, driven by soaring energy prices. Last week, Britain’s new prime minister, Liz Truss, introduced a plan to cap annual energy costs for the average household at 2,500 pounds. Last month, before the policy to freeze energy bills was announced, the Bank of England said it expected a long recession to begin later this year.

British people are “very good at living with that contradiction,” said Anand Menon, a professor of European politics and foreign affairs at King’s College London. That is “because the funeral is the funeral and it’s her,” he said, referring to the queen, “and also because it gives us the opportunity to host the biggest diplomatic jamboree ever.” A large number of princes, prime ministers and presidents, including President Joe Biden, are expected to travel to London for the funeral.

A bigger issue for the British public may be the lack of transparency around the royal family’s finances, including that its members are not subject to inheritance tax. (Britons normally pay a 40% tax on anything they inherit above 325,000 pounds.)

Britain’s Treasury gives the royal household a payment called a sovereign grant; the latest one was about $100 million. The family has used the grant for official royal duties, such as visits, payroll and housekeeping, but it does not cover security costs, which are also paid by the government and are kept secret.

King Charles III has said that he wanted the monarchy to be slimmed down and more modern. “Doing both of those things without talking about financial transparency and the enormous wealth and where it comes from, and what’s fair and what’s not, strikes you as improbable,” Menon said.

The royal family’s fortune is worth an estimated $28 billion.

On Monday, the day of the funeral, the queen’s coffin will be carried from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey on the State Gun Carriage of the Royal Navy. The coffin will then be taken to Wellington Arch, and a hearse will take it to St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.