Breakdown: Queen Elizabeth's Budget Crunch

Budget cuts? She's already on it

"The royal household is acutely aware of the difficult economic climate and took early action to reduce its expenditures in 2009."

What the Queen costs the average Brit: less than a cup of coffee

• The queen gets a taxpayer-paid stipend yearly. Most taxpayers support the Queen, but 87 percent favor a freeze on the funds, according to a June poll cited by The Washington Post. Numbers released by the Royal Government earlier this week suggest that the public's burden is not really that bad, however:

• £38.2 million spent on the Queen from 2009-2010

• $58M
  the outlay in U.S. dollars
• £3.3M
  the decrease from the year before
• 12.2%
  the drop as calculated in percentage terms

• 62 pence
  the amount that the Queen's upkeep will cost each British taxpayer this year (about 91 cents)
• £1.50
  the current cost of a "tall" coffee at Starbucks in the U.K., or about 2.4 Queen Elizabeths source

• » Why the decline? She's flying a little less. No, seriously. Basically, the trim in budget came from a decline in commercial charter flights, as well as a refund relating to the sale of one of her royal helicopters. Which -- let's face it -- is kind of funny.
• » What's missing?: As you might guess, the Queen is on a short list of people worldwide – along with the President of the United States, the Pope, and probably a few others – who need absolutely insane security. And the cost of that security is as closely-guarded as, say, the royal family. And there are plenty of skeptics about the numbers. "We are also not being told how much tax the Queen pays, for example," said Graham Smith of anti-monarchy group Republic.

What's in the Queen's bank account?

• She could be broke by 2012. While the Royal Family had enough in its coffers for the current budget, in a couple years those reserves could be empty -- right around the time of her Diamond Jubilee in 2012 -- unless she changes some of her extravagant spending habits. She dipped into those reserves to help pay for staffing matters, according to the most recent statement:

• £14.4 million spent on running the Royal Household

• £6.5M
  the amount Queen Elizabeth spent out of her reserves in 2009 (around $10 million)
• £7.9M
  the amount she receives yearly (around $12 million) in her Civil List payment from Parliament

• » Blame inflation: That Civil List payment from Parliament has stayed flat for 20 years -- and £7.9 million doesn't get you as far in 2010 as it did in 1990. While the annual stipend allowed her to accumulate a surplus in the 1990s, it's now pushing her toward a deficit. She's working on rectifying this with Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, but for now the total will remain frozen.
  

Royal austerity measures

• It's a good thing she has Canada as a backup. The other huge country she technically oversees covered the bill for her recent trip to the United Nations -- her first since the '50s. But even back home she's finding ways to cut back on her burden to the British government.

• 25% the amount she plans to cut out of her budget soon

• A SMALLER STAFF
  The Queen hopes to whittle her workforce down to around 1,400 employees. No word on where specifically the cuts will go, but a woman who has an official counter of swans likely has room for layoffs.
• LIMITING PAYROLLS
  Also on her list of plans? She is going to freeze the pay of workers making £48,000 or more (around $73,500) each year. She also plans to audit her various positions and allow for outside agency audits too.
• FEWER TRIPS ABROAD
  The Queen, who spends much of her time keeping up appearances with notable figures from around the world, might stay home a little more often, or at least get her trips paid for by someone else.

The case for not cutting back too much

"Of course you could have an even cheaper Monarchy -- you could get rid of the pageantry, the garden parties, some of the royal visits; you could put her in a little town house – but there would come a point where you'd have to ask: Is it worth it?"