No Longer Fit for a Queen? Buckingham Palace to Get $458M Makeover

Miles of aging cables, lead pipes and electrical wiring will be replaced

Buckingham Palace will receive a major facelift at a cost of £369 million ($458 million), officials revealed Friday.

Miles of aging cables, lead pipes and electrical wiring will be replaced at the London home of Queen Elizabeth II, many for the first time in 60 years.

The U.K. monarch will remain in residence as the work is carried out over several phases spread over a 10-year period, the statement said.

Although the cost given for the works is listed as $458 million, royal officials said that is expected to be reduced to $275 million when benefits, efficiencies and adjustments for inflation are taken into account.

The work will be funded by a temporary 10 percent uplift in the Sovereign Grant, the mechanism by which the U.K. government funds the official running costs of the queen's household, official royal travel and maintenance of occupied royal households.

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