Costs, Income, Fortune and Expenditures of the Danish Royal Family

[muriel]

Originally Posted by Tarlita

Queen Elizabeth 4 millarden euro's (which I assume is billion. owns Rio Tinto etc.)

Where did you get the information about HM owning Rio Tinto?

[Lumutqueen]

I can find no evidence that she does.

[Tarlita]

I could post the entire American Almanac article of 25 august 1997. But this thread is not about British royals and the moderators would probably delete it. It is common knowledge in Australia that QEII owns 52 % of Rio. Ask any stockbroker.

[Muhler]

This is most interesting!

We have the official expences for having a monarchy in Denmark in 2009. As presented by the Prime Minister, Lars Løkke.

The official report will be published later today.

Så mange millioner koster kongehuset os om året - Politik - BT.dk

The total expences amounts to 342 million DKK.
Of that the apanage, to run the royal household and cover salaries for staff and other expenses amounts to 97.6 million DKK.
Other expenses covered by the various ministries amounts to 244.6 million DKK.
- That covers protection, royal yacht and crew, guard, transport, maintanaince of the palaces and so and so.

342 million DKK is roughly 45 million €, roughly 62 million US $ or roughly 38 million £.

With 5.4 million citizens in Denmark, that amounts to 63 DKK for every citizen. Which you can't even get a familiy pizza for. Instead you can buy six litres of gas for that amount.

[Madame Royale]

Talk about value for money! Thank you Muhler. I always find the annual expenditure report most interesting.

[nwinther]

Originally Posted by Muhler

Instead you can buy six litres of gas for that amount.

Not meaning to derail the topic - but where are you buying your gas, Muhler? 6 litres for dkk. 63,- - what a bargain!

[Muhler]

Originally Posted by nwinther

Not meaning to derail the topic - but where are you buying your gas, Muhler? 6 litres for dkk. 63,- - what a bargain!

At a station on the way to work. They often dump their prizes. And as I usually drive past very early or very late I avoid the queue as well.
There are sometimes advantages in living in a village.
So I'd say on average I pay a little less than 10.50 per litre.

Let me return to the expenses for the DRF in 2009.

This was the first time a thorough official analasys has been made. You can see it here: http://multimedia.jp.dk/archive/0026...er_262211a.pdf pdf file and in Danish.

Expences for the Royal Life Guard standing guard and ceremonial: 98.2 million DKK.
The Guards Hussars, ceremonial: 43.2 million DKK.
Maintaining the palaces and gardens: 45.5 million DKK.

There are also a number of other interesting details in this report: Like 1.260 people met QMII or the Regent at seventeen public audiences.

There are 135 employees attached to the court. (Presumably all of them paid for by the DRF).

Expenses per ministry:

The PM's office (Statsministeriet): 285.000 DKK.

The Foreign Ministry: 14.000.000. (Primarily to cover expenses on connection with travels).

The Treasury: 45.505.000 DKK. (Mainly to cover maintnaince of property).

The Ministry of Defence: 183.706.000 DKK.
Transport: 2.169.000 DKK.
Dannebrog, the royal yacht: 33.733.000 DKK.
Adjutants: 5.387.000 DKK.
The Royal Lifeguards, including music corps and ceremonial: 98.266.000 DKK.
The Guards Hussars, ceremonial: 43.191.000 DKK.

Ministry of Interior and Health: 250.000 DKK. (For services for the DRF travelling in DK).

Ministry of Church (for the royal Confessionarius): 102.000 DKK.

Ministry of Environment, for services in connection with royal hunts: 444.000 DKK.

Minstry of Transport: 305.000.

The Ministry of Justice, under which PET belongs, has not been mentioned in this report.

[nwinther]

Just read the official report.

Interesting read (if you read Danish). I'm surprised how little the monarchy is running us. I once saw an estimate by some professional in the international tourism industry (IIRC) on how much the monarchy was worth (i.e. how much money they generate).

Sadly, I don't recall his estimate. It would be fun, though, to make the comparison.

I heard on the radio, how much the French presidency was running France, and (as I understood it) in direct costs it was 1 billion euro.

That's 22 times as much as the DRF.

Even if it was the TOTAL cost, and the cost was to be comparable, citizen for citizen, France should have a population of 119 million. Almost twice its actual population.

And how much (positive) branding is Sarkozy generating for France?

[Muhler]

One of the more interesting reactions to this report was from Ole Sohn, MP for the Socialists Peoples Party.

He went on the news last night and said he didn't see any problems with the expenses in regards to the royal hunts (which probably went against what the journalist hoped for) as it is common sense to have forresters around for safety reasons at a hunt where a considerable number of people take part.
He added that even though he is republican, he believe the DRF are doing a fine job.

Now, as Ole Sohn (incidentally ex-leader of the Communist Party) very likely is going to become the finance minister after the next general election, he does know what he is talking about, when it's about finances.
Ole Sohn is among the few politicians I respect, (even though I wouldn't dream about voting for his party) because he is a pragmatic.

A little background note: In Denmark politics may not be what it looks like.
The Socialists Peoples Party is classified as a left-wing party, but in many ways it's politically to the right of the Social Democrats, which is classified as a center-left party.
To make matters even more complicated: The Socialists Peoples Party compete with the Danish Peoples Party, which is classified as an extreme right-wing party, for a considerable segment of the voters.

[jemagre]

Originally Posted by Muhler

One of the more interesting reactions to this report was from Ole Sohn, MP for the Socialists Peoples Party.

He went on the news last night and said he didn't see any problems with the expenses in regards to the royal hunts (which probably went against what the journalist hoped for) as it is common sense to have forresters around for safety reasons at a hunt where a considerable number of people take part.
He added that even though he is republican, he believe the DRF are doing a fine job.

Now, as Ole Sohn (incidentally ex-leader of the Communist Party) very likely is going to become the finance minister after the next general election, he does know what he is talking about, when it's about finances.
Ole Sohn is among the few politicians I respect, (even though I wouldn't dream about voting for his party) because he is a pragmatic.

A little background note: In Denmark politics may not be what it looks like.
The Socialists Peoples Party is classified as a left-wing party, but in many ways it's politically to the right of the Social Democrats, which is classified as a center-left party.
To make matters even more complicated: The Socialists Peoples Party compete with the Danish Peoples Party, which is classified as an extreme right-wing party, for a considerable segment of the voters.

Thanks for the background on the political parties. Anyone know if Frederick and Mary stayed within their budget? I know they have had some problems in the past.

[Sternchen]

I think the report will only be made public next year. Last year, they were definetly on budget And the report that Muhler translated here, was about the 2009 expenses, too

[Muhler]

Originally Posted by jemagre

Thanks for the background on the political parties. Anyone know if Frederick and Mary stayed within their budget? I know they have had some problems in the past.

That's correct. They had to cut down on the number of staff and introduce some additional savings.

It's hardly a novel situation for a new business, which is expanding rapidly, as M&F's court was.
When they married Frederik's apanage was raised considerably and he or rather they had to establish a seperate court within the DRF, with their own administration, personal staff and to some extent personal advisors.
While at the same time also establishing a home in Kancellihuset.

Okay, they found out that they had expanded their staff beynd their budget and cutbacks were needed.
Most of these staff members found jobs elsewhere within the public sector, because public employees have a jobbank, where they have priority.

Now they seem to have reached a balance in regards to expenses.

That is something other newly formed companies learn the hard way. Because the DRF can very much be compared to a company.

The president is QMII, her executive is the Chief of Court, and Prince Henrik is the formal vice-president.
QMII is in charge of the whole company.

In addition to that she has two managers, Frederik and Joachim, who each run their little branch of the family business. Their assistant managers are Mary and Marie. The executive of Frederik's little part of the firm is their chief of court.

The company also has a representative, Benedikte.

The board is the Parliament and the shareholders are the Danish taxpayers.

[chelly]

Ten percent is not a whole lot, I wonder how much of it goes to her personal staff?

[Susan D]

Originally Posted by UserDane

I couldn't agree more Madame Royale IMO Mary could be 'forgiven' for having roughly the same wardrobe as her fellow princesses if only she would have the decency to look like crap in it! Then her adversaries could focus on the numerous ways she re-uses her wardrobe and criticise her for that. Instead she looks elegant and is good at combining her wardrobe pieces in news ways - an unforgivable crime

As to Rania... well, judging from the pictures of her wardrobe - and combining this with the criticism such a wardrobe would trigger had it been e.g. Mette-Marit or - God forbid - Mary! - I must conclude that Rania is the queen of a country which is so rich, stable and economically well-balanced for all that it's citizens must be in a state of near-permanent bless! Otherwise some of Mary's most vocal opponents in the dress department would surely comment on Rania - wouldn't they?

As far as I can tell, Rania borrows her clothes and Noor did the same thing.

[Madame Royale]

As far as I can tell, Rania borrows her clothes and Noor did the same thing.

That's interesting. Is there a source which would suggest the possibilty that her wardrobe is borrowed that you may know of? If not that's fine, I'm just curious to know if there's anything you may have come across which would support your observation

[Gaia]

Originally Posted by Madame Royale

That's interesting. Is there a source which would suggest the possibilty that her wardrobe is borrowed that you may know of? If not that's fine, I'm just curious to know if there's anything you may have come across which would support your observation

I would like to know that too, since I have only seen posts railing against Rania for having gold shoes made. How lovely it would be to counter with an article that proves that she too is budget conscious.

I like that the Danish are transparent with their budget, apparently other houses are not so transparent.

[Cinderella5x]

Originally Posted by Susan D

As far as I can tell, Rania borrows her clothes and Noor did the same thing.

Where are you getting all you information from, regarding borrowing of clothes by Royal ladies?

[Wayne]

Originally Posted by UserDane

I couldn't agree more Madame Royale IMO Mary could be 'forgiven' for having roughly the same wardrobe as her fellow princesses if only she would have the decency to look like crap in it! Then her adversaries could focus on the numerous ways she re-uses her wardrobe and criticise her for that. Instead she looks elegant and is good at combining her wardrobe pieces in news ways - an unforgivable crime

As to Rania... well, judging from the pictures of her wardrobe - and combining this with the criticism such a wardrobe would trigger had it been e.g. Mette-Marit or - God forbid - Mary! - I must conclude that Rania is the queen of a country which is so rich, stable and economically well-balanced for all that it's citizens must be in a state of near-permanent bless! Otherwise some of Mary's most vocal opponents in the dress department would surely comment on Rania - wouldn't they?

I don't think that Jordan is that rich of a nation, it doesn't have vast oil or natural gas reserves when compared to it's neighbours. I suspect that the royal family is independently wealthy and thus allowing for Rania's huge expenditure on clothing. She seems to be the new Diana in terms of her impact on fashion.

[justcurious]

Originally Posted by auntie

I hear what you are saying, and am amused by your sense of humour. One thing that I am aware of since joining TRF is that Mary seems to attract alot of criticsm (incl my own) as she seems so unnatrual and always tries to better others. And that is why Maxima and Rania get away with it as they are not percieved by the public in the same way. It could all be rubbish, and Mary is probably a wonderful person, yet even looking at a clip of her from news yesterday, there seems to be something very fake about her manner. The only time she revealed her proper self was when she spoke about her late mother on the pre wedding documentary. Maxima, Rania, Mette Marit all have something refreshing about their manner, so they get bashed less!

I respect your opinion and taken on board.

And I completely disagree with you. The reason Mary attracts alot of attention that the other CP do not is because she has set a high standard for herself. She is doing a brilliant job from what most Danes have been saying and she does it with style and IMO a dignified manner. That might come off as snobby to some.
Her spending is criticised alot because she looks amazing in them. Most people jump to the conclusion she spends alot because she always looks darn good but that is the strength of the woman that wears the clothes. She knows what she looks good in and what is flattering on her. It seems to me that the other CPs spend alot more (based on the numbers here) on themselves than Mary but still can't grab the same attention for their fashion style like she does. It is not a matter of trying to 'better' others but doing herself and her country justice by doing her absolute best to look her absolute best. Maybe you should be asking why aren't the others stepping up their game?
She is also a patron of the Fashion Industry of Denmark so there is even more reason for her to look the part. Being a patron of such an industry would give her the perks of picking from the best designer outfits the country has to offer so maybe there is an advantage to that.

[dbarn67]

Originally Posted by Wayne

I don't think that Jordan is that rich of a nation, it doesn't have vast oil or natural gas reserves when compared to it's neighbours. I suspect that the royal family is independently wealthy and thus allowing for Rania's huge expenditure on clothing. She seems to be the new Diana in terms of her impact on fashion.

Actually Jordan is a rather poor country.