{"id":4953,"date":"2015-06-24T17:28:54","date_gmt":"2015-06-24T16:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/?p=4953"},"modified":"2015-06-24T17:28:54","modified_gmt":"2015-06-24T16:28:54","slug":"queen-may-have-to-move-from-buckingham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.thesunrisetoday.com\/index.php\/queen-may-have-to-move-from-buckingham\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen may have to move from Buckingham"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Queen<\/a>Queen Elizabeth II may have to move out of Buckingham Palace to allow for much-needed repairs including taking out asbestos, replacing ageing boilers and rewiring, royal officials said on Wednesday.
\n\u201cOne option is for the palace to be vacated,\u201d a royal source said, giving one estimate for the refurbishment of the 18th-century building at \u00a3150 million (211 million euros, $237 million).
\n\u201cWe\u2019re getting experts to look at these scenarios,\u201d the source said, adding that the royal family\u2019s continued presence would depend on whether the building work was done in stages or all at once.
\nThe news came as the queen\u2019s treasurer Alan Reid outlined the royal family\u2019s annual accounts, which showed the public cost of the British monarchy to be \u00a335.7 million, the same level as last year.
\n\u201cOver the coming years, the maintenance of the estate and in particular Buckingham Palace will present a significant financial challenge,\u201d Reid said.
\nFormer royal press secretary Dickie Arbiter told the BBC that repairing the palace was \u201ca mammoth task\u201d.
\n\u201cBits of the building keep falling off, masonry. The boilers haven\u2019t been changed in 60 years, which means that energy costs are soaring,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cPlus the fact there\u2019s still quite a lot of asbestos in the building that needs to come out,\u201d he said.
\nArbiter said the royal family would most likely relocate to Windsor Castle west of London.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not the end of the world. Windsor Castle could become a very good base,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cBuckingham Palace needs the work done to it and in order to get the work done properly it needs the incumbents to move out so that they can get on with it,\u201d he said.
\nSome of Buckingham Palace\u2019s 775 rooms have not been refurbished for 60 years and visitors have reported rain leaking in near some of its precious paintings.
\nThe palace dates back to a large townhouse built on the site in 1703 but was enlarged in the 19th century.
\nLike Windsor Castle, the palace is owned by the state.
\nThe royal residences in Sandringham in Norfolk and at Balmoral Castle in Scotland are owned by the queen.<\/p>\n

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