Spending On Royal Home Attacked

Press, Volume C, Issue 29499, 28 April 1961, Page 21

Spending On Royal Home Attacked

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LONDON, April 25. The spending of £MAW of public money on * new home for Princess Msrgsret and her husband. Mr Antony Armstrong-Jones, was attacked by a Labour member in the House of Commons today. Amid Labour cheers. Mr William Hamilton asked the Minister of Works (Lord John Hopei: “Do you think it is a civilised priority that £50.000 should be spent on 1A Kensington Palace, when hundreds of thousands of people are living in slum conditions? - ’ He said he had passed on to the Minister 112 letters he had received about the expenditure on repairing and decorating the Hoy al palaces. Of these. 103 supported his view and only nine were against. Lord John Hope said he did not think just over 100 letters meant very much either way. Some of them had been critical of Mr Hamilton. Then, amid loud Conservative cheers, he quoted one critical of Mr Hamilton as saying: “Better for you if you left the Queen alone.” The Princess and her husband at present live rentfree in a small house in Ken-

sington Palace, which has always been regarded as a temporary home. ■ Their new apartment, 1A Kensington Palace, is much bigger, but has not been occupied since 1939 and is near-derelict. About £70.000 is to be spent on it before it will be ready for the couple at the end of next year. Most of the money £50.000 will come from money voted by Parliament for the upkeep of Royal palaces. The rest will be paid by the Queen. Lord John Hope also told Mr Hamilton today that the £50.000 was a preliminary estimate based on sketch plans.

It included £25.000 for work which was necessary anyhow to restore the fabric. A further £25.000 was for the renewal and modernisation of services, decorations and fittings to make the apartment habitable.