Queen Elizabeth's fruit order

Britain's Queen Elizabeth plans to grow fruit at Balmoral, her Scottish estate, in order to combat rising food costs.The 82-year-old monarch has asked her gardeners to plant apples, pears, cherries, apricots, grapes and figs, as well as 10 new varieties of roses which will provide fresh cut flowers.A source told Britain's Daily Express newspaper: "The queen wants to make savings like everyone else."She spends hundreds of pounds buying exotic fruits for the kitchen and a lot more on cut flowers. She's decided enough is enough and wants to be self-sufficient. A small fruit crop is expected this year from the new indoor fruits, apricots and grapes, and the rest will be picked next year."This is not the first idea the queen has come up with to help save money - it was recently revealed she has decided to recycle her old wardrobe.On her recent trip to Slovenia and Slovakia the monarch wore a formal evening gown made from material given to her more than 20 years ago.A spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace said at the time: "The queen has always been thrifty and she is well-known for her culture of saving energy around the palace. "We have started designing and making things in-house, we are able to be thriftier because we are using materials we already have. "The material that has been re-used for the queen's outfit had been stored nicely in the palace for more than 20 years but it was difficult to know what to do with it because it was so good. The queen then realised that it could be put to very good use as a gown for the state banquet."Earlier this year the queen's staff asked for a rise in the £7.9 million payment she receives from the taxpayer-funded civil list - which hasn't increased for almost 20 years and will not be renegotiated until 2010 - as her home costs rise. It is estimated her £320 million fortune has plunged by up to £37 million due to the current worldwide economic crisis.

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Thomas Rex CampbellNov 19th, 2008 - 14:23:22

Fruits and veg have always been grown at the Queen's residences, including her two private (i.e. personally-owned) homes, and at Windsor (where the surplus is sold to the public). The Prince of Wales does as well (Tetbury, in Glos).
The so-called Civil List is not a salary for the Queen. It covers official Head of State expenses (mostly salaries of the Royal Household, i.e. staff at the Palace and Windsor Castle). No member of the British Royal Family receives a salary from the taxpayer.
Americans would not expect the occupants of the White House (the Pres. receives 1/2 a million $) to fix the roof or repair the crumbling facade, out of their own pockets, as is happening at Buckingham Palace.

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