The Queen spent millions this year having asbestos removed

We all know that asbestos is a very dangerous material that needs to be handled by trained professionals, which in turn can be quite costly. And due to its widespread use during decades past, everyone eventually encounters asbestos, including the Queen.

Many of the buildings that are managed as part of the Royal Family's estate are quite old, meaning there's every chance asbestos was used in their construction. One example of that is Apartment 1A at Kensignton Palace. It was the residence of Princess Margaret until her death in 2002, and has since been used as office space. It was last refurbished in 1963, with plumbing and cabling dating back to 1949.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge along with their son Prince George have decided to make Apartment 1A their future long-term residence, meaning a complete overhaul was required to bring it up to modern spec. You won't be surprised to hear that asbestos was found in the apartment, and it has cost £3.4 million to have it removed safely. The total renovation costs including new cabling and plumbing are north of £4.5 million.

You may think that's a huge job and bill for the Royal Family to deal with, but it's actually just a drop in the ocean. In order to get Apartment 1A ready, the Queen deferred repair work on Buckingham Palace. That's a much larger project, and a building with the potential to have much greater amounts of asbestos contained within.

Source: The Telegraph