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Britain's Queen Elizabeth has just £1 million ($1.6 million) left in financial reserves after the royal household overspent on its budget last year, according to a report by British lawmakers released Tuesday. The royal household had to dip into its reserves
after overspending £2.3 million ($3.8 million) on the £31 million ($51.4 million) it was given by the taxpayer in 2012-13. The report by the Public Accounts Committee said the amount was "historically low" and that it was "concerned that the household has reduced its balances to such an extent that it could be unable to cover its expenditure on any unforeseen events." "The household needs to get better at planning and managing its budgets for the longer term -- and the Treasury should be more actively involved in reviewing what the household is doing," said Margaret Hodge, the member of parliament who chairs the Public
Accounts Committee. The report also criticized the royals' "complacency" in allowing some 39 percent of royal buildings and land to slip into a state of disrepair. It said the 60-year-old heating system in Buckingham Palace alone will cost between £500,000 and £1 million to replace. "The Household must get a much firmer grip on how it plans to address its maintenance backlog," Hodge said.
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