You learn something new everyday

William and Kate

 On Facebook this morning, Betty had posted, "‎29th April 2011 Westminster Abbey. Be there or be square!" and I had replied,"I'd rather be square, the wedding will be funded by public funds mostly, as you can see I am not a royalist, on top of that it will probably be a public holiday, more loss of revenue... but they chose a good date, my wedding anniversary! LOL"

Kate's ring which was Lady Diana's

So, I was wrong, our comments bounced backward and forwards and I learnt the Queen does not get a salary, she and the Middletons will pay for the wedding, but the cost of security will be born by public funds.

The happy couple

the Queen on her coronation, she looked lovely

I learnt that The Queen receives stipends to pay for official expenses--her office,her workers,her job-related travel expenses, and it's quite a modest amount she receives compared to other heads of state. Paco(2010) stated that it cost £41.5 million to fund the royal household last year. The money goes towards a number of resources which enable Her Majesty to carry out her official duties. These include: Royal travel for official engagements in the UK and overseas; the maintenance of Royal residences which are used for formal entertaining and ceremonial events; funding for the work of The Duke of Edinburgh which supports and complements that of The Queen and salaries for employees of the Royal Household who support and administrate the work of Her Majesty as Head of State. (CG in Yahoo Answers, http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100131134615AAztLyf) if you want to know more on this subject.

The Queen and her corgies

Betty the font of all knowledge goes on to purport that, "Her total wealth is divided into two parts. One is a Venetian-style fondo (trust), that is, it is inalienable and must be passed on to her heir, free from inheritance tax. The second part of her wealth consists of her private collection of castles, jewelry, and art, and a portfolio of blue chip stocks and bonds and real estate investments around the world. Her investment portfolio is estimated to be worth £3 billion"(Betty Teh, 2010). In addition to this," The most important secret is that the Queen is the world's ultimate ``insider trader.'' She not only gets tips from British financiers, but also has access to all the state secrets, through the ``boxes.'' Thus, if the Queen learns from among all public and private British Empire intelligence and economic warfare entities reporting to her, for example, that Nigeria is about to be destabilized, she can immediately call her broker. Under the secrecy laws of the British Empire, it would be unthinkable for anyone to consider pressing charges of insider trading and conflict of interest against the sovereign: In fact, only a handful of trusted advisers would ever know" (Betty Teh, 2010)

So, there you go, a short and sweet lesson on the Queen's finances courtesy of Betty. I admit I was wrong, I thought the Queen did get a salary from the state, after all she is the state.  She receives stipends, is that like expenses? Let me check, 

sti·pend  (stpnd, -pnd)

n.

A fixed and regular payment, such as a salary for services rendered or an allowance.

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[Middle English stipendie, from Old French, from Latin stpendium, soldier's pay, from*stipipendium : stips, stip-, a small payment + pendere, to weigh, pay; see suspend.]

( http://www.thefreedictionary.com/stipend)

I see the word salary up there, are we just splitting hairs here? Anyhow, I am not bothered, what-e-va, I am not a royalist and will never be one. The royals do a good job and have a role in society, I will give them that. They are so wealthy, their wealth begets wealth, and I am sure they are not taking advantage of the taxpayers, so I will leave the subject here.

Betty Teh

 Suyin and Dave
What I do want to ramble on about is how I learnt something new today, discussing this with my friend Betty the Brainbox, even if her brain is currently embedded in Angry Birds. I know I have waxed lyrical about the wonders of technology before, but here we are, she's in Kuala Lumpur, I'm in Toronto, it's morning here, night there, and we're talking about the Queen of England! Oh, and another thing I got wrong? My wedding anniversary is on the 28th of April, not the 29th!!!