Cash strapped Queen hit by ruling

In spite of her husband’s spangling array of medals, Queen Elizabeth II looks suitably glum on today’s front page of the Independent. The London daily reveals that 2009 is set to end with yet another blow to the House of Windsor’s faltering prestige as both Buckingham Palace and the government are forced to reveal secret correspondence about “the growing public cost of the Royal Family.” In a “far-reaching” ruling made by the UK Information Commissioner, “the Government must disclose more than 100 letters and memos written by ministers and members of the Royal Household during negotiations over public subsidies paid to the Queen for the upkeep of her palaces.” It has emerged that the royal family spent £41.5m in public money last year, an increase of £1.5m from 2008. £250,000 of this was spent on redecorating “Princess Beatrice's university accommodation.” The Independent, which has campaigned to make the correspondence public for three years, also reveals that the “Queen's accommodation is in a parlous state… Princess Anne had a narrow escape after some loose masonry was dislodged from the roof on Buckingham Palace.”