We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Since the UK went into lockdown back in March, all staff at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle including tour guides, caterers, office staff and wardens at the royal attractions have continued to receive full pay despite being closed for 15 weeks. The tourism industry is not set to return to normal until 2021.

As the industry continues to be ruined by the deadly pandemic, around 250 jobs will be slashed, with staff being offered voluntary redundancies.

A palace insider told The Sun: “These redundancies are just the beginning.

“We expect when the full financial fallout is revealed later this year, there will be mass redundancies and a scaling down of operations.

“There are serious questions now whether the Queen will ever go back to Buckingham Palace.”

The Queen will reportedly be down by around £18million from the loss of income from tourism.

The Royal Collection Trust – which held in trust for the Queen and her successors – says it will make around a £30million loss this year as palaces continue to remain closed.

Staff were told by Vice Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt, the master of the household.

The email read: “We may not be fully operational across all of our various activities until 2021.

“As a result we have had to start considering some very difficult decisions.”

A payment and recruitment freeze have already been imposed.

A spokesman for the Royal Collection Trust said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has posed by far the greatest challenge to Royal Collection Trust in the charity’s history.

“The closure to the public has had a very significant and serious impact on our finances, as we are entirely funded by visitor income from admissions and related retail sales.

DON’T MISS 
How Prince Harry admitted ‘close to total breakdown’ in confession [REVEAL]
Prince George fury: How third-in-line to throne ‘became target’ [INSIGHT] 
Why Meghan Markle missed part of last year’s Trooping the Colour  [OPINION]

Although Windsor Castle is set to reopen this month, the opening of Buckingham Palace has been cancelled.

A spokesperson added: “Although we hope to reopen the Palaces and Galleries to the public in late July, visitor numbers are expected to be significantly below their usual levels.

“We believe that, for the foreseeable future, lower visitor numbers can be accommodated within a five-day-week opening at all sites, with Tuesday and Wednesday as our closed days, but we will keep this arrangement under review.

“Looking ahead, we believe that the longer-term impact of COVID-19 on tourism means we have to plan ahead to ensure we are well placed to survive in the coming years.

“While we have taken out a £22 million loan to enable us to continue to operate in the near future, we need to do so with a lower cost base to recover our financial position.

“Inevitably this must include a reduction in staff costs, which is our greatest single expense.”

These cuts follow thousands of other businesses across the high street including John Lewis, Debenhams and Victoria’s Secret.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip have been staying at Windsor Castle since lockdown restrictions were imposed.

The couple are expected to travel to Balmoral this month as lockdown measures begin to ease.

Source: Read Full Article