Royal Aide Applied for Heating Grant for Royal Household

Published : September 25, 2010 :: 11:09:01 [ 2,268 views ]

Royal Aide Applied for Heating Grant for Royal Household

A “freedom of information request”, has shown that an aide from the Royal household had in the past applied for heating allowance from the anti poverty grant to help in the heating of the Queens Palaces.

UK, 25th September 2010: The Queen of England, who receives £38.2 m a year from taxpayers, has been criticized after a freedom of information request revealed that a senior Royal aide had in 2004 written to the government requesting aide from a £60 m anti poverty grant in order to heat her palaces.

According to documents obtained by The Independent under the Freedom of Information Act, the aide complained that the heating costs had doubled to £1 m a year and that the government grant to maintain the Queens palaces was inadequate

The requests for replacement of four combined heat and power units at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle had been turned down along with an email sent to the Palace, Department for Culture, Media and Sport explaining that the handouts were to assist low income families. The email also expressed concern that if the Queen was handed money from the poverty fund, it would lead to probable adverse press coverage.

A spokesman for Republic, a campaign group calling for the end of the monarchy, said that “it was the most crass thing he had ever heard. The antipoverty grant is meant for the needy people and the idea that the Palace can take money from the poor to bankroll the rich is disgusting.”

A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the application which had been refused.

The email from the Royal household asked: “Community Energy can fund up to 40% of the capital costs of implanting a community heating scheme. Since we are already grant funded, we would be pleased to know whether the household would be able to benefit from these grants. I look forward to your comments.”

#The Queen receives £38.2m a year from the government, £15m a year for the upkeep of her palaces and £7.9m for the Civil List to cover her personal spending and staff salaries.