LONDON–Britain's royal household needs to get a little more entrepreneurial, eye possible staff cuts and replace an ancient palace boiler, lawmakers say in a new report.The report published yesterday on the finances of Queen Elizabeth II has exposed crumbling palaces and depleted coffers, and discovered that a royal reserve fund for emergencies is down to its last million pounds.
Legislators on the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee urged royal officials to adopt a more commercial approach and suggested opening up Buckingham Palace to visitors more often.The panel said the royal household needed more cash to address a serious maintenance backlog on crumbling palaces."It said at least 39 per cent of royal buildings–and probably more–were in an unacceptable state, "with some properties in a dangerous or deteriorating condition."
"The boiler in Buckingham Palace is 60 years old," committee chair Margaret Hodge told the BBC."The household must get a much firmer grip on how it plans to address its maintenance backlog."In words that have become familiar to Britons during five years of austerity, Hodge urged the royals "to do more with less."
AP