Queen Elizabeth II's income from tourist visits to royal palaces drop by 53% amid COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic and the imposition of the lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus has affected various businesses, incomes of citizens and employment opportunities. Even Queen Elizabeth II has not been spared of its impact, as income from tourist visits to royal palaces fell down by over 50%. 

Queen Elizabeth II's income from tourist visits down

Among the royal properties that are open for visitors include Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle in England as well as the Palace of Holyrood House in Scotland. As per the accounts published on Thursday, mothballing the properties has led to the sovereign’s income fall down to 9.4 million pounds from the 20.2  million pounds reported the year before, as per a report on Bloomberg.

Among the other details notable in the accounts was the British public paying approximately 85.9 million pounds as taxes to the Queen. 51.5 million pounds of this amount was utilised for official travel, property maintenance, and the operating costs of the Queen’s residence. An additional 34.4 million pounds was utilised for the renovation of Buckingham Palace in London.

The British public funds the Queen’s official expenditure in exchange for the surrender of the revenue of the lands held by the Queen, collectively known as the Crown Estate.

UK sees COVID-19 surge

Meanwhile, Britain recorded an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases and the number of deaths too has been rising. On Wednesday, the country recorded 16,135 coronavirus cases. The figures were a significant jump from 11.625 reported the day before. 

The rise is being attributed to an easing of lockdown restrictions and a spread of the Delta variant of the virus. The numbers were the highest since February this year. The number of deaths too witnessed a rise with 19, from the 14 reported the day before.