This is how much the Royal Family spends on travel every year
Royalty definitely has its perks. Reports are surfacing that the British Royal Family spends about £5m ($6.3 million) on travel every year — about 10% of their total budget of £50m ($63 million).
That's not to say it's all for leisure, though. The Royal Family is frequently jet-setting around the globe to represent England at various events and functions. While the Queen travels privately on the Royal Plane, the rest of the family has been known to fly commercial — and, on occasion, at the back of the plane. In fact, at the beginning of Harry and Meghan's relationship, they flew Norwegian Air by stealthily boarding the back of the plane, baseball caps in tow.
According to Royal Correspondent Emily Andrews, Prince Andrew is not quite so low key. He loves "nothing better than to travel around the world in quite opulent, luxurious style and obviously he didn't want to have to pay for any of that," says Andrews. She added, "No chat on royal travel could not be complete without 'air miles Andy'." We like your style, Prince Andrew. Consider this your personal invitation to the TPG Awards in December.
Just how much would spending $6 million on travel get you? Let us put it into context for you:
- Approximately 572 round-trip flights in a Qsuite from New York-Kennedy (JFK) to Doha Hamad International Airport (DOH)
- About 4,437 nights (that's 12 whole years) in an overwater villa at the St. Regis Maldives
- About 21,000 round-trip flights in coach from New York to Los Angeles (LAX)
While the Royal Family's spending power may not be as strong as, say, Jeff Bezos, those are still some pretty impressive figures. Now, if only there were a website that would help them use credit card points to travel the world for free ...
