Queen Elizabeth and the royal family could be losing nearly $8 million in income this year as the coronavirus has forced the shutdown of some notable tourist spots. Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle have closed for summer thus the royals are losing money from the lack of ticket sales, reports stated.
According to The Sun, entrance tickets to these historical sites as well as gift sales from the Royal Collections Trust are down this year because of the pandemic. The rent payments in the Crown Estates, which comes from numerous residential and commercial properties, are also affected.
It's still unclear how the royals can bounce back when this public health crisis is over. According to royal author David McClure, the return of foreign visitors might not immediately normalize. Thus, there will be fewer tourist visitors for the remainder of the year.
Still, the royals have not furloughed their staff and continue to pay them regularly since the U.K. imposed the stay-at-home orders in the middle of March. Prince Charles, for instance, have almost 200 staff members under his employ who are still getting paid their salaries.
The Prince of Wales is, reportedly, footing the bill of his staff and not the taxpayers. The royal is using the reserves from his charities to pay for the workers.
However, another report from the Daily Mail revealed that recruitment in the royal household has been halted for the time being since only a few staff members are being asked to report to work. Normally, there's always a vacancy posted at the royal family website for jobs like gardening, cooking and general housework.
However, there is, reportedly, no vacancies at this time for a pressing reason. The royals have to isolate with a few people to lessen the chances of contracting the virus.
Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle usually have over a hundred workers. This time, however, there are at least 22 royal household staff with only a handful allowed to closely serve the Queen.
It is important for the British people to keep their Queen protected since she is 94 years old and very vulnerable to the virus. Her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh is also vulnerable at almost 98 years old with an existing medical condition. Prince William said in an interview with BBC that they need to do all they can to protect the Queen and Prince Philip's health.
