The UK treasury revealed the staggering cost of the event in a letter written to Parliament, following the long-reigning monarch's death last September.
ADVERTISEMENTQueen Elizabeth II's funeral and lying-in-state cost Britain's government an estimated £162 million (or approximately €186.6 million), it’s been announced.
The UK’s treasury revealed the figure, which covered the late monarch’s state funeral, and the 10 day build up to it last September, in a letter written to Parliament.
Hundreds of thousands of people queued for hours to catch a glimpse of the Queen’s coffin, which lay in state in London’s Westminster Hall, following her death at the age of 96 on 8 September.
Elizabeth had been Queen for 70 years when she died and her state funeral was the first in the United Kingdom since former Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s in 1965.
In a statement, the chief secretary to the treasury, John Glen, said, “The government’s priorities were that these events ran smoothly and with the appropriate level of dignity, while at all times ensuring the safety and security of the public”.
The news comes amid a cost of living crisis in the country, while the cost of the new British king, Charles III's coronation earlier this month, has yet to be revealed.
In April, there was criticism of the royal families after it was announced that public bodies such as schools, local councils and police and fire stations were to be given the choice to hang a portrait of the new monarch, at a cost of some £8 million (or about €9.22 million).
