Royals Cut Spending on Air Travel

The Queen's accountant was keen to point out that the royals are doing their bit in the financial crisis and only cost 62p per head of the population in the UK.

The savings are partly due to the Queen and Prince Philip taking less foreign trips, but they still did 359 engagements, not bad for people their age.

Prince Andrew's travelling expenses in his role as a promoter of British trade made the most interesting reading, clocking up several thousand with charter aircraft. It includes a flight to Moscow (£20,083) in December, Panama and Mexico in February (£62,082) and Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta in March (£43,989).

Prince Charles used the Royal train between Euston and Oxenholme for the launch of the Red Squirrel Survival Trust (£14,756). The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh's official visit to Bermuda by charter flight, followed by the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Trinidad cost £373,470.

The anti-monarchy pressure group Republic thinks cuts should go even further. Campaign manager Graham Smith said \"With European elected head of states costing a fraction of this official figure, it's clear the monarchy continues to waste many millions of pounds of taxpayers' money when frontline services are being threatened.\" He added \"There is no reason why the Queen can't be on a salary. It's time to slash the budgets without reservation or sentiment.\"

Cuts are also going to be made in other areas such as upkeep of official residences and staff over the coming year. However it is unlikely that we shall see the royals travelling the globe economy class in the near future.

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Royals Cut Spending on Air Travel

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