A look inside Buckingham Palace’s $500 million refurbishment

The Queen has a whopping £369 million ($514 million) budget to refurbish her London pad — a figure that may seem excessive when she spends most of her time at Windsor Castle these days. This week, the Queen’s royal accounts for the past financial year were published, revealing £31.6 million ($44 million) had been spent on the renovation in the past 12 months, up from £16.4 million ($23 million) the year before.