The Queen's state funeral is set to cost billions
Topics: Royal Family, The Queen, Money
Aisha Nozari
Featured Image Credit: Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo/Alamy Stock Photo PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo
Topics: Royal Family, The Queen, Money
Following her death last week, the Queen’s funeral will take place on 19 September at Westminster Abbey, with the service beginning at 11am.
However, the monarch’s death could cost the UK economy billions of pounds thanks to factors like funeral expenses, King Charles III’s coronation and bank holidays.
While an exact figure for the Queen’s publicly funded state funeral won’t be revealed, the cost of previous state funerals (including those of Princess Diana and the Queen Mother) indicate Her Majesty’s ceremony will cost a pretty penny.
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The Queen Mother’s funeral in 2002 is thought to have cost about £5.4 million, and estimates put the price of Princess Diana’s 1997 funeral between £3 million and £5 million.
Earlier this week, the Economic Times reported that the Queen’s passing may cost the nation a staggering £6 billion.
The outlet noted that the Queen’s portrait can be found on everything from coins and notes to stamps, and that the process of replacing Her Majesty’s portrait with King Charles III’s will be expensive and could even take decades.
Even British passports will need to be altered, with statements made in our travel documents alluding to ‘Her Majesty’, which will of course need to be changed to ‘His Majesty’.
On 10 September, it was announced by the Earl Marshal the Duke of Norfolk that the Queen’s funeral would take place in six days’ time.
It was also confirmed during the official proclamation of King Charles III at St James' Palace that the date will be a bank holiday in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Prince Harry is the most recent royal to release a statement in the wake of his granny’s death, saying on Monday (12 September) that he already misses the monarch.
His statement read in part: “In celebrating the life of my grandmother, Her Majesty The Queen - and in mourning her loss - we are all reminded of the guiding compass she was to so many in her commitment to service and duty.
"She was globally admired and respected. Her unwavering grace and dignity remained true throughout her life and now her everlasting legacy."
The Duke of Sussex continued: “Let us echo the words she spoke after the passing of her husband, Prince Philip, words which can bring comfort to all of us now: 'Life, of course, consists of final partings as well as first meetings'.”