QUEEN ELIZABETH II GETS WAGE HIKE

LONDON: Queen Elizabeth II got a 13 per cent hike in her British taxpayer-funded allowance ahead of extensive repairs to Buckingham Palace, estimated to cost around a whopping 369 million pounds.

The 92-year-old monarch's accounts released on Thursday showed the public funds used by her for official expenditure and duties went up from 41.9 million pounds to 47.4 million pounds.

More than 4 million pounds of that hike was spent on the initial phase of palace modernising, including the removal of old wiring, while 21.4 million pounds went on staff payroll costs and the rest on travel and other maintenance costs over the previous year.

Large-scale refurbishment work on Buckingham Palace's east wing will begin in April 2019, which is expected to cause years of upheaval for the royal family at their traditional London residence. The removal of nearly 10,000 treasures from the Royal Collection installed in the wing will begin in the coming months. Priceless antique furniture, paintings and tapestries will be moved to other wings, transferred to other palaces, lent to exhibitions or placed in commercial storage, the Palace announced. A spokesperson said that disruption to royal events would be kept to a minimum.

"The programme addresses the urgent need to overhaul the Palace's essential services, some of which have not been updated since the 1950s. These important works will help avert the very real danger of a catastrophic building failure such as a flood or fire," said Sir Michael Stevens, keeper of the privy purse (in charge of royal accounts).

The Queen's official expenditure is met from public funds in exchange for revenue from the Crown Estate -- or the extensive property owned by the monarch. The "core" Sovereign Grant, or expense allowance, is usually based on 15 per cent of the net surplus of the Crown Estate. However, from this year the total grant is based on 25 per cent of the surplus, an increase intended to meet the costs of refurbishing Buckingham Palace.