Royal Watch News

Queen Elizabeth's visit cost British city 220k

Jan 11, 2013, 16:02 GMT

Queen Elizabeth

Queen Elizabeth's visit to Leicester cost the British city nearly £220,000 last year.

Leicestershire Police have revealed it spent more than £34,000 to police the crowds who turned out in force to see the monarch kick off her Diamond Jubilee tour of the country in March, adding to the £185,851 the city council and De Montfort University splashed out on the occasion.

A police spokeswoman told the Leicester Mercury newspaper: 'The total cost to police the visit was £34,125 and that covers all expenses including officers' overtime.'

The visit saw the queen, Prince Philip and Duchess Catherine - who was known as Kate Middleton prior to her and Prince William's nuptials - took in the city, the university and cathedral.

Despite some criticism about the cost of the queen's visit from pressure group Republic - which found out the total cost of the visit through Freedom of Information Act requests - the city's mayor Sir Peter Soulsby insists the sum was a 'small price to pay' for hosting the royal.

He said: 'It's great value for money. So many thousands of people from Leicestershire came to the city to enjoy the visit and they had the most wonderful day.

'It was a great honour for the city to be chosen by the queen to start her jubilee tour. The cost was a small price to pay for having the honour of being the first place on the jubilee tour.'