But travel costs have stayed high, in part because the queen is dispatching senior royals, including Prince Charles, Prince Harry and Prince William, to far corners of the Commonwealth for festivities celebrating her Diamond Jubilee, to mark six decades on the throne.

Official accounts showed British taxpayers spent 32.1 million pounds ($49.5 million) supporting the monarchy in 2011, 5.3 percent less than the previous year. Much of the saving came from cutting the maintenance bill of royal residences from 15.4 million pounds ($23.8 million) to 11.9 million pounds ($18.4 million).

THE NETHERLANDS

Queen Beatrix, who lives in a state-owned palace in a forest on the edge of The Hague, is paid a salary of €829,000 a year and receives €4,314,000 for "personal and material" expenses. The budget for Queen Beatrix, Crown Prince Willem Alexander and his wife Princess Maxima was cut in 2011 by €422,000 to €39.2 million, according to the Royal House website.

Most of those savings came in the form of cuts to private travel expenses. And the queen forked over €163,000 from her own pocket for maintenance on her private yacht, the Groene Draeck.

BELGIUM

King Albert II pledged this year to use part of his salary to help pay for the upkeep on his properties.

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