Royal value for money
From Mrs Jennifer Miller Sir: Perhaps the greatest weakness of our monarchy is the constant malicious misrepresentation of royal finances; so Simon Heffer's brilliant and well-informed analysis ('Republican whingers', 2 March) is particularly welcome.
The last Sunday Times list of the 1,000 richest people in Britain and Ireland ranked the Queen in joint 105th place: members of her family did not feature at all. She now pays all their former parliamentary annuities (except for Prince Philip and the Queen Mother) although her own Civil List, fixed at £7.9 million in 1991, has been frozen for the next ten years.
It should be remembered that the too trusting George III surrendered to the Treasury not only his crown estate surplus, but also other lucrative hereditary revenues such as the customs and the post.
During the present reign Queen Mary's former residence, Marlborough House, has been given up to the Commonwealth, and the White Lodge in Richmond Park (birthplace of Edward VIII) made over to the Royal Ballet School, while the 'floating palace', H.M.S. Britannia, has also been sacrificed and is now a tourist attraction. In contrast, expensive luxury government homes and the Speaker's house in the Palace of Westminster are never open to the public.
Jennifer Miller
London SW15
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