14 DAY TRIAL // It's never a good thing when monarchs run out of money. In the old days, that would have meant some heavy taxation on the general population, but these days, something like that spells bankruptcy, and no country wants to see its sovereign become a laughing stock.
Though it's not yet a dire situation, the British Queen Elizabeth II is said to be down to her last million pounds due to severe overspending of her budget.
A recent report from the Public Accounts Committee shows that the Crown is spending beyond its means, which, in layman's terms, means that they're spending more than they're bringing in.
The financial reserves of the British Crown are shown to have suffered a dramatic drop, from £35 million ($58 million) in 2001 to little less than £1 million ($1.6 million) in 2014. Naturally, this has brought on much speculation as to what can be done in order to prevent a very shameful bankruptcy.
The problem is that the Crown also oversees maintenance work on some of the most iconic palaces in the country, and with the current lack of funds, a number of them have entered a deep state of disrepair.
In fact, 40% of the buildings are shown to be “below acceptable standards,” which is becoming more and more worrisome as the Crown already had an expensive backlog of repairs that runs into the tens of millions of pounds mark.
The Household and the Treasury are being blamed for not making greater savings and for not getting better value for the Queen's diminishing funds.
As to what exact measures the British Royals will be taking to bulk up their funds again, it remains to be seen. Back in 1992, when Windsor castle suffered fire damage, the Buckingham Palace was opened to the public and the resulting funds were used in the repairs. Something of the sort could be done again.