Top art jobs go as Covid hits Palace finances

The Royal Collection Trust, which lost £64m in 2020 due to the closure of Buckingham Palace and other sites to visitors, has had to restructure and make staff cuts.

Desmond Shawe-Taylor, the Surveyor of The Queen's Pictures, has taken redundancy and Rufus Bird, the Surveyor of The Queen's Works of Art, has also left. The two men, in charge of the Queen's art collection, and their posts are described as being "held in abeyance".

The post of Surveyor of The Queen's Pictures was created by Charles I. Previous holders include Anthony Blunt – later revealed to be a Russian spy.