Head of State expenditure is the official expenditure relating to The Queen's duties as Head of State and Head of the Commonwealth.
Head of State expenditure has reduced significantly over the past decade, from £87.3 million in 1991-92 (expressed in current pounds) to £41.5 million in 2008-09. In the year 2008-09 The Queen cost the taxpayer just 69 pence per person.
Head of State expenditure is met from public funds in exchange for the surrender by The Queen of the revenue from the Crown Estate. In the financial year to 31 March 2009 the revenue surplus from the Crown Estate paid to the Treasury amounted to £211 million.
Head of State expenditure excludes the costs of Police and Army security and of Armed Services ceremonial, as figures are not available.
Every year the Royal Household publishes an Annual Summary of Head of State expenditure, together a full report on Royal public finances.
The two-page Annual Summary and full Royal Public Finances report can be downloaded as Acrobat pdf files at the bottom of this page.
A summary of Head of State expenditure met from public funds in the year to 31 March 2008 reads as follows:
| 2009 | 2008 | |
| £m | £m | |
| The Queen's Civil List (figures are for calendar years 2008 and 2007) | 13.9 | 12.7 |
| Parliamentary Annuities | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Grants-in-aid | 22.6 | 22.0 |
| Expenditure met directly by Government Departments and the Crown Estate | 4.6 | 4.9 |
| 41.5 | 40.0 |
FINANCIAL REPORTS 2008-2009
Read the press release
Download a two-page annual summary of expenditure (pdf, 165kB)
The combined report can be downloaded in five parts in pdf format:
Part I: Introduction to Head of State expenditure 2008-2009 (pdf, 1.92MB)
Part II: Civil List expenditure 2008 (pdf, 985kB)
Part III: Property Services Grant-in-Aid 2008-09 (pdf, 1.94MB)
Part IV: Royal Travel Grant-in-Aid 2008-09 (pdf, 1.56MB)
Part V: Appendices (pdf, 935kB)
