British royal family good value for money: aides

London

BRITISH royal aides said on Tuesday that Queen Elizabeth and her family provide excellent value for money as accounts showed the amount of taxpayer funds they will get this year will almost double to cover essential repairs to Buckingham Palace.

Official figures show that the royals received £42.8 million S($75.8 million) in 2016-17 from the "Sovereign Grant", the government handout that covers the running costs of the queen's household and travel expenses.

That figure is set to rise to £76.1 million after the government agreed to an increase to pay for a £369 million, 10-year refurbishment of Buckingham Palace, whose ageing electrical wiring, water pipes and heating sy…