Greens lead the charge to strip Queen of £890,000
despite the Royal Collection Trust receiving £4.2million in income from visitor charges last year.
Miss Hyslop confirmed that despite a ‘long-standing memorandum of understanding’ over the payment of royal household staff, this was now due for a review.
Last night, critics of the proposal claimed many of the jobs were vital for ensuring that Holyroodhouse remains a popular tourist attraction, drawing visitors into Edinburgh.
Scottish Conservative culture spokesman Rachael Hamilton said: ‘The people of Scotland hold the Royal Family dearly and want them to continue to play their part in society.
‘As such, they would expect the Scottish Government to continue funding Holyroodhouse.
‘A failure to do this would be an infantile political gesture which, while unsurprising from the Greens, would be disappointing from the Scottish Government itself.
‘Ministers ought to remember that Holyroodhouse brings in many tourists to Edinburgh, who in turn spend in the surrounding area and businesses.’
Thousands of tourists visit the palace every year.
As an official residence, the Queen stays at the palace for
‘Infantile gesture’
one week at the beginning of summer before heading for the Balmoral Estate in Aberdeenshire.
She hosts a number of engagements and ceremonies in Edinburgh – including an annual garden party.
This year she held an audience with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
But yesterday Mr Wightman used questions at the Scottish parliament to call for government funding of household staff to be scrapped.
Mr Wightman said: ‘Last year, Historic Environment Scotland incurred £890,000 in staffing costs, partly to reimburse the royal household for staff who are employed by the royal household.
‘Will the cabinet secretary explain why funds that are voted by this parliament are used to pay for members of staff who are employed by the royal household?’
Miss Hyslop said scrapping the funding was being considered as part of a review being carried out by stakeholders, including HES.
She added: ‘There is a longstanding memorandum of understanding, dating from 2000, that governs the management and maintenance of the palace and is now due for a review. The financial arrangements will be considered during that review by all parties to the memorandum.’
Miss Hyslop said that income generated from the palace is surplus to the income from the Crown estate and is sent to the UK treasury with a reimbursement sent back via the Scottish block grant.
She added: ‘It is appropriate for the memorandum to be reviewed now that Historic Environment Scotland, which is a new non-departmental public body, is responsible for the matter.
‘On the route of financing, the responsibility for providing and maintaining the official residence of the sovereign lies with ministers.’
Much of the Scottish Government’s spend on royal household staff is on maintenance workers and tradesmen.