Britain's Queen Elizabeth tours the Royal London Hospital in east London, Feb. 27, 2013.
British MPs took the Royal Family to task this week after learning that the monarchy spent well in excess of its annual budget.
“Given the state of public finances, every service funded by the public purse has faced cuts,” Public Accounts Committee chair Margaret Hodge told the Queen’s treasurer on Monday, ABC News reports. “What I don’t understand is why that didn’t lead you to pull back your expenditure, so that you lived within your means?”
Instead of staying within the Parliament-approved budget of what amounts to $49.7 million for the last fiscal year, the Royal Family spent about $53.4 million.
The Queen’s treasurer, Sir Alan Reid, said that many one-time-only expenses were necessary, citing the Queen’s 2012 Diamond Jubilee and $1.6 million for the renovation of an apartment at Kensington Palace for William, Kate and baby George.
[ABC News]