Queen Elizabeth's royal pay cut: By the numbers
Even British monarchs are feeling the economy squeeze — though it didn't stop them from spending millions on this year's extravagant Royal Wedding
Not even the royal family is safe from Britain's plummeting economy. For decades, Queen Elizabeth II has been receiving a little less taxpayer funding each year. But now, under new austerity measures, she'll have her pay frozen until 2015. Instead of receiving tens of millions annually in taxpayer money, she'll receive 15 percent of the profits from the Crown Estate, which collects rents and taxes on Regent Street, a prime retail area, and much of the United Kingdom's shoreline. While many predict that the Queen's income will dip even further, it's hard to get exact estimates. "You don't really realize, but the queen is going around Buckingham Palace, turning off the lights, having fewer staff, even turning the heating down. She sometimes even writes letters in her very own fur coat," Royal magazine's Ingrid Seward tells ABC News. Here, a brief guide, by the numbers:
$120.6 million
The Queen's salary for fiscal year 1991-1992
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$50.1 million
The Queen's income for fiscal year 2010-2011
$0.94
Amount each person in the U.K. had to pay to support the monarchy in fiscal year 2009-2010
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$600 million
The Queen's total worth, according to a 2007 Forbes article. That made her the 11th richest royal at the time. The richest royal, the Sultan of Brunei, had $22 billion — 36 times the Queen's wealth
$800,000
Amount the queen recently spent on a new horse
$1.6 million
Additional amount the Queen will receive, despite the cutbacks, to fund her Diamond Jubilee next year
As much as $50 billion
Estimated cost of the Royal Wedding to the British economy, taking into account all the businesses that temporarily shut down because of the national holiday
As much as $64 million
Rumored cost of the Royal Wedding itself, much of it for security
$800,000
Estimated cost of the wedding flowers
$14.5 billion
Entire budget for the 2012 Olympics in London
$1.6 billion
Budget for Olympics security
$3.3 billion
Estimated amount of tourism revenue the Olympics are expected to bring in
$785 million
Estimated amount of money the royal family brings to Great Britain each year, largely thanks to tourism
Sources: ABC News, Daily Mail, Daily News, Forbes, Huffington Post, MSNBC, Scotsmen, Telegraph, USA Today, Wall Street Journal
Editor's note: All figures were converted from pounds to dollars using Google on the date of publication.
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