Spending on palaces rises

Spending on royal palaces rose by £200,000 to £15.5 million last year, today's accounts show.

But there is evidence that the royal family are helping to pay their own way on some home improvements. The £3.15million cost of redeveloping the Buckingham Palace kitchens will be met largely from the proceeds of Windsor Castle's visitor admissions.

The overall cost of property maintenance fell marginally to £10.25million in the last financial year but the total cost of gas, electricity and telephone bills was up to more than £1.3million.

Overall, bills for Buckingham and St James's Palaces, Clarence House, Marlborough House Mews, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court and Windsor will remain at about £15 million until 2004, the report shows.

In an interesting footnote, the fire at Buckingham Palace on the eve of the pop concert during the Golden Jubilee bank holiday is estimated to have cost £70,000 in repairs. It was probably caused by the use of electrical equipment on dry rot.