The Queen's Reaction To Unexpected Tax Break Revealed

Queen Elizabeth II may be rich, but she plans her finances well and saves costs where she can. Her aides know this and often help her to save money. A new book has revealed one such anecdote where a royal aide helped the monarch to claim her tax money back.

The Queen likes to support the local vendors by buying their wares whenever she is on a royal tour in a foreign country. According to Express, royal aide Angela Kelly has revealed how she helped the monarch save some money when they were visiting Singapore.

Among the products the Queen loves to buy is Singapore silk. As she has a hectic schedule during her visits, which leaves little time to go to the market, some of the vendors bring their products to the airport for the monarch to pick what she likes.

The usual practice is that the Queen walks on and examines the products, while her aides and Ladies-in-Waiting follow her closely. When she likes a particular fabric, which is usually a bright colored cloth, the monarch gestures to Kelly and the latter makes the purchase.

While making such a purchase a few years ago, the vendor reportedly told Kelly that she could claim the tax money back for the silk she bought. Knowing that the Queen would want to save the money, the aide searched for someone who could help her get the tax money back. The extra effort almost made Kelly to miss the flight, but it was worth it.

Kelly was excited about saving some money, and she screamed over the plane engines to tell the Queen that she got her tax money back. The book described the monarch’s reaction as “priceless” when she took the tax refund.

The Queen may be conscious about her spending habits, but she makes good money every year. According to CNBC, the monarch has several streams of income, and one of them is the income from taxpayers that is given to her as Sovereign Grant. The income from the taxpayers alone amounted to about $100 million for the financial year 2017 and 18.