Queen Elizabeth has made her public appearance for the ceremony of reopening a gallery at the British Museum. The monarch looked elegant in her signature vibrant coat and coordinated hat.
The British monarch appeared to the public firstly since the ubiquitous Paradise Papers revealed money from her private estate in Duchy of Lancaster was ploughed into offshore funds. Despite the rumours about that, the 91-year-old Queen doesn’t neglect her public duties: the monarch was on hand to reopen the Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery of China and South Asia. The art gallery has recently undergone a major renovation and is ready to welcome new visitors.
Renovated gallery’s new displays are telling the stories of China and the South Asian countries of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal from 5000 BC up to the present day. For the ceremony of reopening the gallery, Queen donned the vibrant fuchsia calf-length coat, which she embellished with a brooch, and hat of the same colour. The Queen was greeted outside the institution by uniformed military personnel.
Paradise Papers touched the British royal family
The scandalous revealing of Paradise Paper touched the monarch and her Duchy of Lancaster. According to those documents, Queen had funnelled £10million in accounts in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. Royal officials have said she had no direct involvement in the investments and they are ‘not aware of any tax advantages’.
Dickie Arbiter, the Queen’s former press secretary, commented:
‘The Queen’s done nothing wrong and she’s got nothing to apologise for. The Queen is being knocked to take the heat of others.’
Mr Arbiter added as well that the money has been invested by the Duchy of Lancaster – not personally Her Majesty. Consequently, Queen has no reasons to apologize, she used to use her own money for the upkeep of palaces and pensions for retired staff. That is a huge amount and the monarch used to have and spend these sums over decades under the British law.
