Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral cost over $200 million, UK government reveals

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May 19, 2023
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Queen Elizabeth II's funeral cost over 0 million, UK government reveals

Britain’s King Charles III (L), Britain’s Camilla, Queen Consort, Britain’s Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence, Britain’s Prince Andrew, Duke of York, Britain’s Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, Britain’s Sophie, Countess of Wessex, Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain’s Prince George of Wales, Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain’s Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex walk behind the coffin of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II as they leave Westminster Abbey in London on September 19, 2022, after the State Funeral Service for Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.

Ben Stansall | Afp | Getty Images

LONDON — The state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II cost the U.K. government around £162 million ($201.4 million), the Treasury said on Thursday.

The U.K.’s longest-serving monarch died on Sept. 8, 2022, aged 96, at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

A 10-day period of national mourning, during which most businesses and workplaces remained open but many events were canceled, was held ahead of her funeral in Westminster Abbey on Sept. 18.

An estimated 250,000 members of the public saw the British queen lying in state in London during the mourning period, with many queuing in the streets of London for more than 24 hours.

She was buried at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, Berkshire.

The hearse carrying the coffin of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth is escorted along the Long Walk towards Windsor castle in the funeral procession, on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, in Windsor, Britain, September 19, 2022

Paul Childs | Reuters

According to the newly-released figures, the costs to U.K. government departments included £73.68 million to the Home Office, £57.42 million for the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, £2.565 million to the Department for Transport, £2.096 million for the Foreign Office, and £2.89 million for the Ministry of Defence.

The cost to the government in Scotland, where a slow hearse procession and a one-day lying in state was held, was £18.756 million. The central U.K. Treasury said this had been refunded.

The queen’s successor and son, King Charles III, was anointed and crowned on May 6 during a three-day weekend of coronation celebrations predicted to have cost between £50 million and £100 million.