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How much money does the Queen of England earn? I don't know exactly what her yearly [1] is , but it must be hundreds of thousands of pounds . It is well known that 69-year-old Queen Elizabeth II is one of the richest women in the world . So it may surprise you to hear that the Queen has money problems , in [2] of her great wealth .

In fact , the Queen has enormous bills to pay . One of her biggest expenses is paying all the people who work for her . As you know the royal family has [3] huge palaces and each of these needs cleaners , cooks , gardeners , accountants , secretaries and so on . In addition to paying her [4] she has to pay for keeping the palaces in good condition . Last year there was a big fire at Windsor Castle and a lot of [5] damage was done . Famous paintings were lost and a lot of beautiful old furniture was destroyed . Since it is her house , she is responsible for paying the millions of pounds it will cost to repair the damage . Recently a new expense was added . A law passed last year says that she has to pay taxes , just like any ordinary wage earner in British [6] . So the Queen is no longer a special case . For these reasons , the Queen has been looking for ways to reduce her expenses and increase her earnings . One way is employing fewer workers and she has [7] in doing this . As a result , she has some spare houses on her land that are empty . Last week , it was announced that some these furnished cottages are for rent . She is looking for people -- rich Americans , perhaps -- who would be happy to [8] 35 ,000 pounds a year just to be able to say that they lived near a palace and rented from the Queen of England . Yet another idea for making money was to open her most famous home , Buckingham Palace in London , to the public . So the next time you set out to do some [9] in London , after you've visited Big Ben , London Bridge and the Tower of London , you can go and have a look around Buckingham Palace . Do you think you will get in for free? Don't be [10] ! You have to pay an entrance charge , and the Queen is hoping to sell lots of tickets .

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