In her first month in office, Terras was supposed to present her plan for lowering electricity rates, meet with US President Joe Biden and other leaders at the UN summit in New York, and then initiate extensive tax cuts. But the Queen’s death disrupted the plan of action, which she had already been working on during the campaign.
Last Friday, Downing 10 was quick to announce that the electricity price freeze could come into effect on October 1 as planned, although through private contracts with energy suppliers and not through emergency laws. Now, observers believe that Taras’s future will be determined by her reaction to the Queen’s death.
2 Viewing the gallery
Prime Minister Liz Truss. Plans private contracts with energy suppliers to freeze prices
(Photo: AFP)
The last British Prime Minister to find himself in a similar situation was Tony Blair, when five months after he came to power, in August 1997, Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris. His reference to Diana as “the people’s princess” in his obituary jumped the support for his party to 93% and entered the pages of history. According to the “Politico” website, Blair was praised at a time when the royal family was heavily criticized for its cool response to Diana’s death.
Although the circumstances are different now, this time too the prime minister has the task of sensing the murmurs of the people’s hearts. “Tony Blair’s words about Diana became world famous not only because of the simple phrase ‘the people’s princess,’ but because he was able to grasp the public mood in an instant,” Peter Mendelsohn, his former senior adviser, told Politico.
The death of the queen at this time gives an opportunity for the terrace to position itself in the eyes of the public in an optimal way. This assumption is supported by the results of an Ipsos survey published last week, according to which only half of the respondents know “enough” or “a lot” about Terras.
Of all the palaces and mansions that Elizabeth II lived in during her 96 years, Balmoral Castle in Scotland was her favorite place, and it was also where she died.
The castle, which over the years served as the royal family’s summer residence, has become its permanent residence in recent months. There she performed her last official duty – handing over the keys to Downing 10 to the incoming Prime Minister, two days before her death. Equipped with a walking stick, an accessory she had refused until a few months ago, and dressed in a Scottish skirt with the stiff bag on her arm that has become one of her symbols, the Queen shook Terras’s hand without clasps, an honor that was reserved for only a few.
However, the most famous of the royal residences is Buckingham, the official London residence of the British monarchs since 1837 and a world-famous tourist attraction. Before her retirement to Balmoral, the palace was used by the Queen for her official meetings, where she welcomed 14 incoming Prime Ministers.
Buckingham is also probably the most expensive property, with an estimated value of $4.9 billion. Although the 775-room palace is technically owned by the reigning monarch, it is actually held by a Crown Property Fund. With the Queen’s death, the palace officially passes to King Charles, who, according to reports, plans to turn it into a museum, that is, a source of income that will reduce the need for taxpayer funds.
According to a report published last June, in 2021 the royal family cost the taxpayer 102.4 million pounds. And so, while the common citizen struggled with the cost of living, the royal family’s expenses jumped by 17% in the shadow of inflation, crossing the 100 million pound mark for the first time. One of the reasons for this is the extensive renovations taking place in Buckingham, the cost of which climbed to 63.9 million pounds. 9, an addition of 14 million pounds compared to the year before, this in the background of the preparations for the celebrations of the 70th year of the monarchy. The renovations, which will last a decade, will come with a price tag of about 370 million pounds. The increase in expenses also embodied the return of members of the royal family to official tours outside the UK, after a break in Corona.
According to “Forbes”, the “firm” – as the royal family is called – owns assets with a total value of 28 billion dollars. These belong to the king or queen during their reign, but are not considered personal wealth. These holdings include the crown properties (real estate and land worth $19.5 billion), the principalities of Cornwall and Lancaster ($1.3 billion and $748 million, respectively) and Kensington Palace ($630 million), where Princess Diana lived after her divorce from Earls, and that’s also where Prince William and his family lived before moving last summer to their new home, Adelaide Cottage in Windsor, aiming to raise their children in as normal an environment as possible.
2 Viewing the gallery
The Queen’s personal fortune is estimated at about 530 million dollars “alone”, and it includes, in addition to Balmoral and Sandringham, agricultural farms and horse farms, as well as her unique jewelry collection, items of which have been loaned over the years to her brides. From her mother, who died 20 years ago, the Queen inherited assets worth $94 million, including works of art, Fabergé eggs, jewelry and horses. She also inherited about $30 million from her husband Prince Philip, who died last April. One of her most valuable possessions was the oldest stamp collection in the world, which she inherited from her grandmother, with an estimated value of 134 million dollars.
In a conversation with the website Time.news.live, Norman Baker, an expert on the finances of the royal house, said that the government must now recalculate how to use taxpayers’ money to finance the royal family. “We have no say in how the royal family chooses to use private planes or helicopters, which are financed by public funds, and at a time when ordinary citizens are having difficulty surviving financially, this is wrong.”
Elizabeth’s life was steeped in such real moments. During World War II, Elizabeth, then a princess, asked to contribute to the war effort and went through a course in driving and mechanics in heavy vehicles. In an interview for a documentary filmed on the occasion of her 90th birthday, her granddaughter Eugenie talked about the happy summers in Balmoral and provided a small glimpse of simple moments in the family’s bosom. “Walks, picnics, dogs – lots of dogs, there have always been dogs – and people come and go all the time. It was a wonderful base for the grandparents, a place where we came to meet them, a place where you could breathe and run.” The princess also told of family barbecues, where the Duke cooked and the Queen washed dishes. Former Prime Minister Blair backed her words. “You think I’m kidding, but no. The queen asked if you had finished eating, then she piled the plates and put them in the sink,” he said. (with rubber gloves of course).
According to one of her former chefs, Darren McGrady, the Queen was not a “foodie”, and did not like to vary the menu. She was particularly fond of venison from the estates and pate from salmon that came from Balmoral. For dessert I especially love chocolate. And like a normal mother and grandmother, when the children or grandchildren came to visit, she made sure that they were served their favorite dishes. In the case of grandson William – a cake made of layers of biscuits and chocolate.
Today, her eldest son Charles is officially named King Vin his speech He pledged to dedicate the rest of his life to the position. Similar to Taras and her cabinet, the king will also have to adapt himself to the spirit of the times, and turn the governing body he heads into an institution attentive to the public and its plights. His mother, who received the crown during a period of austerity, buried the seeds. As a passionate follower of sustainability, he will have to nurture them wisely.