By: Robert Verkaik, September 24 2010

Ministers were asked if money earmarked for schools, hospitals and low-income families could be used to meet soaring fuel bills


Documents disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that the Queen asked ministers for a poverty handout to help heat her palaces

The Queen asked ministers for a poverty handout to help heat her palaces but was rebuffed because they feared it would be a public relations disaster, documents disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act reveal.

Royal aides were told that the £60m worth of energy-saving grants were aimed at families on low incomes and if the money was given to Buckingham Palace instead of housing associations or hospitals it could lead to "adverse publicity" for the Queen and the Government.

Aides complained to ministers in 2004 that the Queen's gas and electricity bills, which had increased by 50 per cent that year, stood at more than £1m a year and had become "untenable".

Full article on The Independent