The funeral for Queen Elizabeth II and other events after her death last year cost the United Kingdom government more than $200 million, officials disclosed Thursday.
The Sept. 19 funeral at London’s Westminster Abbey church followed four days of the queen lying in state at nearby Westminster Hall, where hundreds of thousands of people lined up to pay their respects.
Royal family members walked in processions through Edinburgh and London before the queen was laid to rest at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
“The government’s priorities were that these events ran smoothly and with the appropriate level of dignity, while at all times ensuring the safety and security of the public,” John Glen, the chief secretary to the British Treasury, said Thursday.
A written statement to Parliament on Thursday listed the overall costs at 162 pounds, or about $201 million.
Queen Elizabeth II died Sept. 8 at age 96, ending her record-setting 70-year monarchy. She died of “old age,” according to the death certificate released by the National Records of Scotland. Her longtime husband, Prince Philip, died in 2021 at age 99.
Ten days of national mourning took place ahead of the queen’s funeral, which about 2,000 people attended. The service marked the first state funeral in the U.K. since Winston Churchill’s in 1965.
Among those who attended Elizabeth’s funeral were her four children, including her eldest, King Charles, and his two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. The events served as a reunion for Harry and his family, with whom he has described a strained relationship since he stepped down from his senior royal duties and moved to Southern California with his wife, Meghan Markle, in 2020.
Harry also attended the 74-year-old Charles’ coronation in London earlier this month, but Meghan and their two children, 4-year-old son Archie and 2-year-old daughter Lilibet, did not.
Queen Elizabeth’s monarchy beganafter her father’s death in 1952, when she was 25. A platinum jubilee celebrating Elizabeth’s 70-year reign took place months before her death.