Death of Elizabeth II: her funeral officially cost 186 million euros

Finally the official numbers are out. National mourning and the funeral of Queen Elizabeth in the UK last September cost British taxpayers £161.7m, or €186m, according to Treasury figures released Thursday.

73.68 million for safety alone

After the death of the Empress at the age of 96 in her Scottish castle of Balmoral on September 8, her coffin was transported to Edinburgh and then put on public display in Westminster Hall for five days. Hundreds of thousands of people marched to pay their respects.

A state funeral was then held on 19 September at Westminster Abbey in London in front of 2,000 guests, including hundreds of foreign dignitaries and leaders, then at Windsor, where the Queen rests alongside her husband Prince Philip.

There is no official record of Charles’s coronation.

According to a written statement to Parliament by Chief Treasurer John Glen, the total cost is estimated at £161.743 million. The most important bill goes to the Home Office for 73.68 million pounds (nearly 85 million euros). Thousands of police officers were deployed across the UK for 10 days of national mourning.

Official details of King Charles’ coronation, which took place on May 6, have not yet been released, but the anti-monarchist Republic group estimates it cost at least £100m (€115m). Funding is supported largely by British taxpayers, who are in the grip of an acute cost of living crisis with inflation in excess of 10%.