Even if you're Queen Elizabeth, monarch of the United Kingdom as well as Head of the Commonwealth, you have to have some kind of Christmas budget, especially when your Christmas list includes both family and staff that care for various palaces and estates around the country, a tally that adds up to a whopping 620 presents. There's also the matter of preparing an astounding number of Christmas cards and handing out festive Christmas pudding. So how much can the queen expect to spend every holiday between the gifts and the cards and the pudding?
Even in the age of e-cards and paperless greetings, members of the British royal family, including Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, still send out Christmas cards. Express says the royal family's most senior members have a Christmas card list made up of about 750 people. This includes family members and friends, of course, as well as recipients outside the family's immediate circle. Cards are sent to an unspecified list of foreign and national figures, British and Commonwealth Prime Ministers, High Commissions, and Governors-General. Prince Philip has his own Christmas card list, and reportedly sends a card to each of about 200 organizations he has close associations with.
This list doesn't include the Christmas cards sent out by other members of the royal family, including the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William and Kate Middleton, and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who, according to Her Ireland, have their own lists of friends and charities to send cards to.
A festive Christmas pudding is an important part of any British holiday feast, which is why Hello! magazine says Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip give one to every staff member in the royal household, which includes about 550 people, along with workers in the Court Post Office and Palace police. Each yearly order from the palace totals around 1,500 puddings, which used to be sourced from Harrods or Fortnum & Mason, but now come from supermarket chain Tesco.
Aside from a Christmas pudding, The Mirror says the queen also usually gives a gift to everyone who works in the royal household, as long as they have been in service for more than a year. The budget for junior staff members is set at about $33, and the maximum for more senior staff is set at about $46. A former aide explained to Fabulous Digital,
"The gifts are all chosen online by two women in [Her Majesty's] private secretary's office now, but until fairly recently the Queen used to be able to go on a shopping spree of her own, when chosen stores, principally Harrods and Fortnums, would send van loads of stuff for her to look at. All the items were put on display on tables in two big room at Buckingham Palace. It was like her very own royal shopping mall. But it's not done now, it's one of those things that she doesn't really need to expend her energy on as she gets older."
Gift-buying at Buckingham Palace seems to be a more straightforward affair these days. The former aide explained to Fabulous Digital,
"The presents are usually a book token or a small piece of china from the palace gift shop."
Up to two weeks before the festivities begin, the Deputy Master of the Household sends the staff, from aides and accountants to maids and footmen, to a stateroom where they line up to receive a wrapped gift from the queen herself. Her festive message, the former aide says, hardly ever changes. It simply reads:
"Thank you so much for all your help during the year...Happy Christmas."
If staff cannot appear personally, their gifts are mailed along with a card.
To cover the cost of 620 Christmas presents for staff and family, plus all those Christmas cards and puddings, the queen can look forward to spending nearly $40,000 a year. Watch the video to learn How Much The Queen Spends On Christmas Gifts Each Year!
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