The Queen will be asked to open Buckingham Palace to the public more

The Public Accounts Committee will be asking Her Majesty to allow the public more access to Buckingham Palace in return for cash to fund long-needed repairs.

Currently, Buckingham Palace is open to the public for 60 days a year in August and September, when the Royals are not in residence. The Queen's advisers may be reluctant to accede to pressure to open longer. The palace is a workplace hosting receptions, investitures and the visits of many foreign dignitaries, and there is a constant need for preparation and cleaning.

Windsor Castle is open most of the year.

For 12 years the annual grant to the Queen has been £15,000,000. Her Majesty has been asking for an extra £4,000,000. Some of the grand state rooms at the palace have not been redecorated since 1952 when the Queen first came to the throne, and the wiring of the palace is now 60 years old, long in need of being replaced. Some urgent repairs are also needed at Windsor Castle.

Reference

Margaret Wilde http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/