Queen's funeral cost

The Queen’s funeral could cost taxpayers as much as £10 million

You could pay almost 4,000 people’s annual energy bills for the same estimated cost of the funeral


The Queen’s funeral could cost British taxpayers as much as £10 million according to the cost of the Queen’s mother’s funeral in 20o2.

Whilst the government has yet to announce the cost of the Queen’s funeral, the Queen Mother’s funeral cost an estimated £5.4 million in 20o2. When you adjust the figure for inflation, the cost today would have been £9.7 million.

Liz Truss’ new energy price cap, which comes into effect at the start of next month and caps annual household energy bills at £2,500, means the estimated cost of the Queen’s funeral could pay the yearly energy bills of almost 4,000 people.

How much will the Queen’s funeral actually cost?

As Prince Phillip’s funeral took place in a much restricted manner due to the Covid pandemic, the last royal funeral similar to the scale of the Queen’s was the Queen Mother’s funeral in 2002.

The Queen Mother’s funeral also took place in Westminster Abbey with her body lying-in-state ahead of the funeral and a queue system operating to allow visitors to pay their respects.

Queen's funeral cost

via SWNS

According to a House of Commons report, the lying-in-state cost the British taxpayer £825,000 and security for the state funeral cost £4.3 million.

An estimated 200,000 queued to pay their respects to the Queen Mother lying-in-state. Although the official figure for the queue to see the Queen has not yet been released, it is expected to far surpass the numbers who visited the Queen Mother and could be almost double. As such, it is expected to have cost significantly more to operate and manage.

The last state funeral took place 57 years ago for the death of Winston Churchill. However, since then there have been numerous ceremonial funerals. In 1997, Princess Diana’s funeral is estimated to have cost between £3-5 million. More recently Margaret Thatcher’s funeral in 2013 cost the taxpayer approximately £3.2 million.

Queen's funeral cost

The queue to visit the Queen lying-in-state extended 10 miles over the weekend. Credit via Shutterstock

According to the BBC, 100 heads of government and presidents are at the Queen’s funeral. Former Detective Chief Superintendent in Counter Terrorism Policing Nick Aldworth described the security operation for the Queen’s funeral as “the biggest the UK has ever seen”.

Queen's funeral cost

US President Joe Biden has brought 400 security officers with him for his protection. Via SWNS

The cost of the Queen’s funeral comes at the same time as normal people experience inflation rising at the fastest pace in 40 years. Inflation is at almost 10 per cent as people prepare to face the winter months alongside soaring energy bills.

On Friday, King Charles was heckled by a member of the public in Cardiff. While greeting the crowds, the protester said: “While we struggle to heat our homes, we have to pay for your parade. The taxpayer pays £100 million for you and what for?” Charles decided to turn away from the man and continue to greet other members of the crowd.

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Featured image credit via Matthew Newby/SWNS