LONDON (AP) – The British government spent an estimated £162 million (about $200 million) on Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and burial last year, the Treasury said on Thursday.
It will be the first time in the UK since Winston Churchill’s state funeral in 1965 that a late king will be held on September 19.
The ceremony was attended by world leaders and dignitaries and included 10 days of national mourning following the death of the Queen on September 8 after 70 years on the throne at the age of 96. Hundreds of thousands gathered at Westminster Hall in London to see Britain’s longest-serving monarch.
The costs were made public in a written statement to Congress on Thursday.
“The Government’s priority is to ensure that these events proceed smoothly and with appropriate dignity, while ensuring the safety of the public at all times,” Treasury Secretary John Glenn said in a statement.
Both Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip are buried in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
Philippe, who died in 2021 at the age of 99, did not attend the public funeral, which was held quietly under strict social distancing rules during the COVID-19 pandemic. . The last royal funeral before that was in 2002 for Elizabeth’s mother, known as the Queen Mother. She lay in the state for three days and her funeral costs were estimated at around £5.4 million.
