Government spent nearly $400K on hotels for Queen's funeral, including $6K/night suite

The Canadian government spent nearly $400,000 on hotel rooms during the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, a figure that includes a luxurious $6,000-a-night river-view suite.

Canada's delegation to the Sept. 19 funeral included Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Governor General Mary Simon, former prime ministers Kim Campbell, Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin and Stephen Harper, Olympian Mark Tewksbury and actor Sandra Oh.

The Canadian government has not disclosed who stayed in the $6,000 suite at the exclusive Corinthia London hotel which, according to the hotel’s website, includes a butler service and views of the River Thames.

CTVNews.ca contacted Global Affairs Canada and the Prime Minister's Office multiple times but did not receive a response by the time of publication. A spokesperson for Governor General Mary Simon told CTVNews.ca she did not stay in the River Suite at the Corinthia Hotel in London.

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The hotel costs were obtained through an access to information request filed with Global Affairs Canada, which is Canada's foreign ministry. They show a total of $356,981.70 was spent at the Corinthia London hotel between Sept. 11 and 20, which included an undisclosed number of rooms with king beds. The cost of the river view suite was $6,089.16 per night, or £4,800 British pounds. The suite was in use for five nights.

The federal government also spent a much smaller sum of $40,861.11 to put others up at the more modest Hampton by Hilton near London’s Stanstead airport, which is nearly an hour's drive from central London.

The total spent on accommodation for Canada's delegation was £313,614.00 British pounds, or CA$397,842.81 according to Global Affairs Canada.

However, when CTVNews.ca calculated these costs using a mid-market exchange rate provided by XE.com from Sept. 20, 2022, the day most of the Canadian delegation would have checked out, the exchange rate was approximately CA$0.25 higher than the exchange rate used by Global Affairs Canada. That would add nearly CA$80,000 to the hotel bill, and would make the river suite cost just over $7,300 a night.  

Global Affairs did not respond to CTVNews.ca’s request for clarification on the exchange rate they used to calculate costs.

"My reaction is: when expending funds like this, can the democratic leader look the average struggling citizen in the eyes and expect that citizen to understand?" Kathy Brock, a professor in Queen's University's School of Policy Studies, told CTVNews.ca. "The answer for a Canadian or Australian is likely to be less tolerant than for an American. While they all can understand additional security and status costs, unjustified opulence is another matter."

While the costs have raised eyebrows and questions from opposition parties, Nelson Wiseman, a professor emeritus in the University of Toronto's department of political science, believes the price of the suite could be justified.

"It depends what the room is for. There may be planned receptions or meetings with other heads of government and state," Wiseman told CTVNews.ca. "It sounds like loose change in a federal budget of $342 billion."

Robert Finch is the dominion chairman of the Monarchist League of Canada advocacy group. He says Canadian officials probably didn't have much accommodation choice at the time.

"In terms of the Funeral of Her Late Majesty, for which VIP accommodations obviously were arranged at short notice, via block-bookings by the U.K. government, in one of the tightest and most expensive hotel markets in the world, the choice of hotel and availability of rooms and suites for [the Governor General], [Prime Minister] and staff including security were largely beyond the [Office of the Prime Minister's] control as far as we are aware," Finch told CTVNews.ca

The accommodation costs were first revealed by the Toronto Sun.

"The Prime Minister treated himself to a luxurious vacation and a wonderful night of singing in a palatial hotel lobby, one of the swankiest hotels on planet earth," Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre told Parliament in November, after the story broke. "He then spent $6,000 per night on a single hotel room. Who stayed in that room?"

In a recent follow-up, the Toronto Sun reported it had obtained internal emails showing how staff at Global Affairs Canada were told not to disclose the occupant of the expensive suite. Although London is one of the world's most expensive cities, the newspaper also noted that several top-tier London hotels like The Four Seasons, The Langham, The Savoy, and the Shangri La all offer rooms with lower prices than the Corinthia London.

It appears that the Corinthia London did not raise prices for the funeral. The "River Suite" currently costs £5,220 per night, or over CA$8,500 with today's exchange rate – an increase from Sept. 2022. Normal rooms with king beds currently start at £792 a night, or nearly CA$1,300 today.

Located just steps from the major sites of central London, the five-star hotel's lobby is where Trudeau was recorded singing 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by Queen just days before the Queen's funeral.

Visiting European royalty were housed at Buckingham Palace for the funeral while many dignitaries stayed at the five-star Claridge’s hotel, where rooms currently start at £750 per night, or over CA$1,200 today. U.S. President Joe Biden also attended the funeral, but stayed in a large central London townhouse that's home to the U.K.'s American ambassador.

Last week, the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation announced that it was launching a legal challenge to force the government to reveal who stayed in the Corinthia London's River Suite.

"As a matter of principle, the government owes taxpayers transparency," Canadian Taxpayer Federation federal director Franco Terrazzano told CTVNews.ca. "If someone works for taxpayers and spends taxpayers’ money, they’re legally responsible to be accountable and transparent about it. The law is clear that expenses like this aren’t personal information."

The Prime Minister is widely expected to return to London with a delegation for the May 6 coronation of King Charles III.

Obtained through an access to information request to Global Affairs Canada, these documents show how much the Canadian government spent on hotel rooms during the funeral for Queen Elizabeth II, a figure that includes a luxurious $6,000-a-night river-view suite.