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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Chiara Fiorillo

The Queen sells souvenirs at half-price after Covid pandemic hits finances hard

The Queen is selling half-price souvenirs after the Royal Collection's finances were hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

There are thousands of time-sensitive souvenirs left, including calendars, coins and diaries that were not sold this year.

They were expected to be sold to visitors at Windsor, Buckingham Palace and Palace of Holyroodhouse, but because of the Covid crisis many are still in stock.

The half-price items include a Windsor Castle commemorative coin which had its price slashed from £4.95 to £2.45.

The coin's description says: "This commemorative coin depicts Buckingham Palace on the obverse side and a crown and national floral emblems design on the reverse."

A commemorative coin is being sold for £2.45 (royalcollectionshop.co.uk)

The Queen's 2021 Palaces calendar - normally priced at £9.95 - is now 50% off, The Sun reports.

Shoppers are told: "Note important dates and appointments in this splendid calendar for 2021."

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Queen is facing a £35 million shortfall in funding.

The Queen's Palaces Calendar is also being sold for half-price (royalcollectionshop.co.uk)

But despite this, she has vowed not to ask the Government for a bailout from taxpayers.

She has promised to look for cost savings in the way the Royal Household operates after her senior advisers revealed the full cost of  coronavirus  in royal accounts published in September.

A £369m project to revamp Buckingham Palace is forecast to be £20m short because the Sovereign Grant – the annual amount the Queen gets from the taxpayer – is expected to stay at £86.3m for the next couple of years.

The Royal Household has also predicted that a big fall in tourism revenue at the palaces will cost it £15m in the next three years.

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